The Witch
Melas: Book Two

by MelasD

Disclaimer

Copyright © 2021 MelasD / V.A. Lewis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form possible without permission from the author or publisher. For permissions, contact the author or publisher through email at delta201@melaswebserial.com

Cover art 1 design and illustration by Tsuurot

Cover art 2 by Boboplushie

https://melaswebserial.com/

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Table of Contents

Contents

The Witch Melas: Book Two

Disclaimer

Table of Contents

Part One: Into the World

Chapter 1: Adrian - Far From Home

Chapter 2: Adrian II - Xander's Academy

Chapter 3: Freedom

Chapter 4: Alleyway Meeting

Chapter 5: The Plague Doctor

Chapter 6: The Orphanage

Chapter 7: Kidnapping Thugs

Chapter 8: Secrets Exchanged

Chapter 9: Adventure

Chapter 10: Interlude IV - Lilith

Part Two: Waning Trust

Chapter 11: The Hunters Guild

Chapter 12: Rematch

Chapter 13: Bestiary

Chapter 14: Legacy and Licensed

Chapter 15: Monster Hunting

Chapter 16: Extermination

Chapter 17: Escort Mission

Chapter 18: Tinkering

Chapter 19: Adrian III - Field Trip

Chapter 20: Adrian IV - Deal

Chapter 21: Scenic View

Chapter 22: Beach Episode

Chapter 23: Saved and Spent

Chapter 24: Smuggling Job

Chapter 25: Pursued

Chapter 26: Pirate Attack

Chapter 27: Hidden Lair

Chapter 28: Interrogation

Chapter 29: Next Step

Chapter 30: Infiltration

Chapter 31: Enemies

Chapter 32: Thoughts and Actions

Chapter 33: Ambush

Chapter 34: Dockside Encounter

Chapter 35: Tired

Chapter 36: Trust

Chapter 37: Allies and Enemies

Chapter 38: Interlude V - The Emperor

Author’s Note:

Read More

Part One: Into the World

Into the World

Chapter 1: Adrian - Far From Home

A boy lazily rested his chin on the palm of his hand. He glanced out the window, and out into the blue sky.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining. Birds were chirping. There were few clouds to be seen, and it was the perfect time to be outside.

He longed to go out. To play in an open field. To just talk to his friends. Spend time with the people he cared about. But—

"Adrian."

He looked up.

At the front of the classroom, past the dozens of other children staring at him from their seats, a woman stood with her arms crossed, glaring at him. She adjusted the glasses on her face, and spoke sternly to him.

"Adrian, I have been calling your name for the past minute."

"Yes, Ma’am?" Adrian asked simply. A moment passed, and the teacher frowned.

"Where are your manners? It’s no wonder you’ve been failing your language and formality— never mind," she muttered under her breath. The teacher straightened, and she spoke clearly. "I asked you a question. Do you require me to repeat it? If so, please ask nicely."

Adrian did not know what the question was. He was not paying attention. So he just shrugged.

"Sorry, Mrs Hill. Didn’t catch it."

That was all he said. The teacher sighed resignedly, and addressed the rest of the class.

"Fine. Since Mr Adrian could not answer the question. Is anyone else willing to volunteer?"

A hand shot up immediately. Adrian leaned back on his chair as he turned slightly towards the figure.

"Ah, Ms Onia."

"Thank you, Mrs Hill." A pink haired girl stood up and smiled politely. She cleared her throat and began answering the question. "The Mana Revolution was started over a hundred years ago in 21 TD— 21 years before the Demon Lord was killed. The invention of mana tools was what allowed the Great Hero Xander to unite our continent of Soli to defeat the Demons in the Final Holy War."

"That is correct. You may sit, Ms Onia." The teacher nodded approvingly.

Onia pulled her chair forward, as she took a seat. But not before she cast a glance at Adrian, and… sneered.

She laughed as she whispered something to a group of children, but Adrian paid them no mind. He did not care about their antics. He rested his head on his desk, as time seemed to drone on forever. Before finally, the bell rang. Three strikes, and class was dismissed.

Adrian slowly packed up his things, as people around him began quickly heading out of the classroom. He stopped as someone approached him. The boy did not even need to see who it was.

"Alice."

"Adrian!" a blonde-haired girl exclaimed. She leaned over and looked at him inquisitively. "I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the answer. I didn’t know what it was either."

"It’s fine. Thanks," he said, showing not a hint of concern in his voice. "I don’t really care about history. So, it’s not like it matters."

"I know," she said with a nod. "And that’s why I’m worried. I heard you failed the recent history test. I— what if you get expelled!"

The girl waved her hands frantically. She peered at the boy, as he got up with his books.

"I won’t." Adrian pushed his chair in. He headed out of the classroom as Alice followed him.

"I know you’re top in the class for most other subjects. But we’re commoners!" she protested. "And if you get kicked out, I won’t…" she trailed off.

Adrian shrugged. He knew for a fact he was not going to get expelled for failing a few subjects. And even if he did, he was not sure how it affected Alice. So he was not sure how to respond.

He opened his mouth to say something, but a voice interrupted him.

"Well, if the school does expel him, why not just leave too, Alice?" Onia approached the two of them with a group of boys and girls alike. "Since you’re commoners, it’s not like the Academy has anything to lose if you’re both gone." She laughed, and her posse laughed alongside her.

Alice paled.

"L-lady Onia," she spoke quickly. "I do appreciate your concern for the school, but I would like to stay in the Academy!"

"Too bad. I’d prefer it if you would not." The pinked hair girl sighed wistfully. "Honestly, I heard that sometimes commoners are enrolled every few years to appease the public. But only a single one. I don’t understand why there’s two filthy commoners standing in front of me. Do you, Ilyse?"

"No, my Lady."

A girl agreed with her, and Alice took a step back. "I apologise for the offense—" the blonde girl started, but Adrian spoke over her.

"Alice, what are you doing? Let’s go."

She blinked. "I—, uh, what?"

"You said you wanted me to teach you maths? Come on, the libraries this way."

"But—"

"You insolent peasant!" a voice called out. "You’re in the presence of Lady Onia. You are a lowly commoner, address her with respect! "

"Why should I?" Adrian picked his ear as he asked the question.

This time, it was Alice who piped up. She grabbed the boy’s hand, and spoke in a hushed voice. "Adrian, Lady Onia is from the Octavius family. She’s the daughter of a Duke! If you speak rudely to her, she can get you in a lot of trouble."

"Listen to your fellow commoner, Adrian," Onia spoke casually. She stared down her hand as she played with her fingernails. "A lot of people are unhappy with you. If you continue to push your luck, I might just have a word with my father, and everyone will finally get what they want."

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Is that a threat?"

"It's a fact," she answered simply. She probably expected him to apologize and beg for forgiveness. But instead, Adrian just laughed. "W-what are you laughing at?"

"Sorry," he said as he wiped a tear from his eye. "I just think it’s funny that you can’t do anything by yourself, so you have no choice but to speak to your dad just to deal with a boy younger than you. That’s just so… childish."

"Why you—" Onia sputtered, but Adrian was not finished.

"And you want me to show you respect? Sorry, respect is earned where I’m from. With how rotten you are, I won’t give you any respect even if you’re the Emperor himself."

There were more shouts of outrage. But Adrian ignored it all. He grinned, satisfied with himself. Then he turned around and walked away from the small crowd.

"Are you coming, Alice?"

"What?" The blonde girl looked back between the angry group of nobles, and at the boy as he disappeared headed the corridor. Then she quickly ran after him. "I— yes. Wait for me!" she called out.

Onia watched the two as they turned the corner. Ilyse spoke up from next to her.

"Are you just going to let him get away with that?"

"Of course not," the pink haired girl said.

A vicious smile drew itself across her face, as her friend took a step back.

"I’ll make him pay for what he said."

Later, Alice chastised Adrian in the library for what he did, but he could not see why she was upset. Then they studied for a few hours before night fell, and Adrian returned to his room.

Xander’s Academy was a rich institution. The most famous academy in the entire world. Its walls and floors were made of a beautiful marble, and the hallways were well adorned.

Even Adrian heard about this Academy back in Villamcreek, thousands of miles away across the sea.

As such, there were no roommates. Everyone got their own rooms. After all, students who enrolled in the Academy could afford it.

Even Alice.

She was not a noble. But she was rich. She was the daughter of a rich merchant who traded between the two continents of Soli and Vitae.

So while they were both commoners, Alice was, in fact, nothing like Adrian. But in a place where everyone else had an aristocratic background, they became friends.

Or the closest thing to a friend Adrian could find in this Academy.

Because this was the Holy Xan Empire. And while he and Alice shared a commonality in their status, she was still from this country.

For all Adrian liked his caretaker, Fria— who was not here right now— and for all Adrian took his academics seriously, he did not like this place at all. Because…

They were the ones who tried to kill Melas.

And they even killed her mom, Ms Aria.

So, he did not like their history. He did not trust their so-called truths. Even if he left his home and crossed an ocean to come to Xanderia, he did not do it because he wanted to come here. He only did it because that was the only way he could get what he wanted.

He was going to make use of every resource he had. Make use of every opportunity he could get. To take advantage of the Academy for himself.

And one day.

Adrian thought to himself, as he raised a hand up and stared at it.

I am going to see Melas again.

After all, that was why he came here.

Chapter 2: Adrian II - Xander's Academy

The next day, Adrian went about his classes as usual. He treated it like an ordinary day, but he was not an idiot.

He noticed the stares. The sidelong glances. As his classmates whispered to each other when he walked by them.

"Immature," he muttered to himself.

Adrian expected Onia to try and get back at him somehow. But he was not expecting this. Spreading rumors so people would avoid him? This was… normal.

No one ever spoke to him. Except for Alice. So, it was not like this would make a difference.

In fact, most students already did not like him. He had gotten into a few fights because he refused to call any of them by their status.

His stubbornness on that issue was also the reason why he was failing his language and formality class. But that did not matter to him. Such skills would not help him in his goal. To find Melas.

He remembered the black haired girl. So quiet. Always calm. She was nothing like the students in the Academy.

Even in the Academy, people thought of Adrian as a genius. But she was different. She taught him things he did not know. She was a true genius.

So, Adrian saw no reason to respect any of the nobles that went to this school, and he couldn't care less about their petty squabbles with him. He simply ignored all the looks he was getting.

Then the bell sounded twice. For lunch. And class was dismissed as everyone went looking for something to eat.

Adrian packed his things. Got up to leave the classroom. And—

He walked out. The boy frowned as he looked around.

Where’s Alice?

He saw her during classes. And she usually went to grab lunch with him during their break. But she was nowhere to be found.

A thought. A premonition weighed in on Adrian’s head. But he pushed it aside for the moment.

Maybe she’s in the cafeteria.

He found himself searching for the familiar blonde girl in the large dining hall, but he could not find her. He spent another 20 minutes looking around, but eventually gave up.

She could’ve been busy. Plus, it was not like she should always follow him around. They weren’t even that close.

So, Adrian ate his lunch. Today, it was seafood. A luxurious meal for the boy. He had never even seen a crab until the first seafood lunch he had in the Academy. He savored each bite, then went back to class.

He saw Alice there. He thought she saw him too, but she quickly returned to her seat. That’s…

Adrian was about to approach her, but the teacher came. So the boy got back to his seat. And while this was not history or language and formality class, Adrian did not pay any attention.

Instead, he kept casting glances back at Alice, as she avoided his gaze. He knew something was off. He had known since lunch. But he finally confirmed his suspicions when he caught a glimpse of Onia.

She saw him too. And for a moment. She just smiled sweetly at him. Then it warped into a smug grin. And she turned back to facing the front.

It was only during their dueling class, did Adrian manage to speak with Alice. Boys and girls were not separate. They could face each other without a problem.

Adrian was excellent in dueling. He may not have been very proficient with the sword, since he had not learned how to use it until he came to the Academy. But he could use mana tools well.

His dad had taught him how to use a gun. And he could actually aim well.

So with a sword in one hand, he parried his opponent's swing. And as they pulled back to thrust at him, he used the gun in his other to shoot them in the chest.

The other boy recoiled. The blast knocked him back, but he was still up. Then Adrian struck him across the chest, and he collapsed.

Adrian stood over him. The other boy was not dead. They were using dulled swords and stun bullets. It still hurt a lot, but it was far from lethal.

The other boy was panting and gasping for air on the ground. And while Adrian was sweating and breathing heavily, he was not exhausted. He was used to physical exertion, unlike his opponent. That was the difference in their background showing. In how they were raised.

A noble would never have to lift a finger for themselves. Even if they trained hard, they never struggled the same way a regular person would. So Adrian had more stamina.

The brown-haired boy grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off his forehead, when he saw Alice exiting the training room. Adrian quickly excused himself, and followed after her.

While running out the door, he nearly bumped into another boy with light blue skin and slightly pointed ears.

"Excuse me," Adrian said in a hurry.

"A-apologies."

Adrian stepped past the boy, and chased after Alice. He saw her walking down the corridor, headed towards the washroom.

He approached her and called out her name.

"Alice."

The blonde girl turned around and blinked.

"Adrian? What are you—" she cut herself off, and stepped back. "I’m sorry, I can’t speak to you."

"Why?" he asked. "What did Onia say to you?"

It was a guess. An assumption. But it was correct.

Alice shied back. She lowered her head, and avoided making eye contact with him.

"She…" The girl hesitated. "L-lady Onia was kind enough to give me a warning. To stop speaking with you. She told me that if I did not listen, she would not only get me kicked out of the Academy but drive my father bankrupt."

"That coward," Adrian said as he clenched a fist. "She went after your family’s company?

"Yes," Alice answered. She bowed her head, and turned around. "I think of you as a friend, Adrian. B-but I… I can’t be seen talking to you. I’m so sorry."

With that said, the girl hurried off.

And Adrian could only grit his teeth as he watched her go.

It was petty politics. But the kind a noble child would learn from their parents. It made sense to Adrian, but he did not like it.

He went about the next few weeks dealing with constant stares. Odd looks by his classmates. And the occasional awkward eye contact with Alice.

He could understand her plight. She had to worry about the repercussions from rich nobles on her family. And unlike him, she could actually get expelled too. So he did not blame her for it.

But he was alone now. And yet, to him, the most infuriating thing was not having no one to talk to.

It was the constant taunting that was irritating.

Every time he would see Onia, she would sneer at him. Make a haughty joke and laugh at him with her friends. Or just go up and speak with Alice, while staring smugly back at him every once in a while.

The brown-haired boy sighed, as he was heading towards the cafeteria. He was getting sick and tired of this. It was genuinely annoying to him. But his mood only worsened when a voice called out to him.

"Oh, look what do we have here? It's a dirty peasant walking around the prestigious halls of this Academy."

A dozen other voices accompanied it.

"That’s terrifying, Lady Onia!"

"What do we do?

"Should we call the guards?"

But the main voice spoke over all of them.

"No, no, Ilyse. That’s Adrian. He’s just a student here."

"A student? Are you sure? I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him before!"

There was a gaggle of laughter.

Adrian tried to ignore it. He continued walking, as the person continued. That was, until he heard what Onia said next.

"Of course not. He has no friends. Why should us nobles befriend someone of a commoner like him? But you can. So why don’t you go make friends with him, Alice?"

Adrian spun around at that. He saw Onia facing the blonde haired girl. Then she turned to him, as Alice answered.

"I do not wish to, Lady Onia. There is no reason for me to talk to him, for he has made a grave insult against you. And simply your presence is more than enough for me."

She spoke in a monotone voice. Adrian could tell she was uncomfortable saying that. That she did not even enjoy being around Onia. But she had no choice— she could not get into trouble.

The pink haired girl nodded. She played with her hair as she addressed everyone else.

"Well you heard her. Then I guess there’s no reason for us to talk to him." She declared. Then she slowly turned back to Adrian, and grinned. "Unless, of course, the peasant decides to beg for forgiveness for his offenses against me, and kiss my feet to show his sincerity."

Adrian wanted to snap back at her. To yell an expletive back at her. But instead, he stayed calm and collected.

"And why should I do that?" he asked innocently.

Onia’s smug look disappeared. She frowned, and stared at him in disbelief. "Are you really asking me that? Are you that braindead, you peasant?"

The boy raised his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug.

"I don’t see why I should apologize, Onia," he said emphatically, and she colored at his casual use of her name. "It’s not like you did anything to prove me wrong."

"Huh?!"

"Yes," Adrian spoke over her outburst. "You’re still so childish and can’t do anything by yourself."

"I can’t... what?!" the noble girl sputtered. She gestured back at her posse, then at Alice who was ducking her head in silence. "I took away your only friend, and stopped everyone else from talking to you. How is that not something I've done by myself?!"

"You made others do the work for you, and hid behind your father’s influence." The boy nodded along. Then he smiled politely at her. "So you’re not just incapable, but you’re also a coward. Got it."

"You!" Onia pointed at him. "I will turn your life into Hell unless you apologize right this instant!"

"I told you, I don’t have a reason to say sorry." Adrian sighed over exaggeratedly. "But if you insist so much, why not make me?"

"Make you?! I will have you—"

"No, not with any of your noble powers. Prove yourself in a duel, and I will take back what I said. I’ll even be your servant if you want."

"You want to duel me?" The girl laughed. "I’ve been studying how to duel since I was seven. You’re a farm boy who never even picked up a sword until Saint Theron showed you some pity and brought you here!"

"I’m not from a farm, but ok."

"Y-you—" Onia snarled at him. "You really don’t know what you’re doing. Fine. I’ll duel you, and if I win, you will be my servant. Forever."

"And if I win?" Adrian asked.

The noble girl harrumphed and folded her arms. "You won’t win. But if you do, I’ll take back everything I said to everyone including your commoner friend, and I’ll apologize to you."

She looked at him expectantly. And he grinned.

"Sure."

"Why do they even need to duel? Lady Onia is obviously superior. He’s a commoner!"

"Look at him, he barely even knows how to hold a sword!"

"And didn’t he just turn 12 years old? Why would they let someone as young as him into the Academy."

A crowd— not just Onia’s clique— gathered to watch the duel.

But Adrian ignored all of them. Well, except for the last one. He wanted to smack whoever said it in the head. They were only a year older than him. It made no difference. He knew that for a fact. Because… of Melas.

She was a year younger than him. And she killed a Chimera.

He remembered that very clearly. That was the day she saved his life. And it was also the last time he saw her.

The brown haired boy shook his head, and focused. He had to deal with what was in front of him first. He turned around—

And was met with two big blue eyes.

Adrian blinked.

"Alice?"

"Adrian, don’t do this," the girl pleaded. "I’ve seen you duel— and you’re good. But Onia is different. She’s one of the best duelists in our class!"

"And I’ve fought Monsters. Real ones. I’ll be fine, I promise," he reassured her.

"But if you lose—"

"I won’t," he said simply. "Just trust me."

Alice looked unconvinced. She was about to say something, before Adrian added.

"And after I win, we can hang out again. What was that book you liked talking about? The Fall of the Stars?"

The girl giggled. "That’s not it, dummy. It’s—"

The two looked up, as someone called Adrian’s name.

"Well, I’ve gotta go. Seeya in a bit."

"I— good luck." She called after him. Then she whispered quietly to herself. "Goddess grace you."

Adrian did not hear it, of course. He walked up to Onia. She was waiting with her arms folded, and sword and shield by her side. She tossed one of her pink pigtails behind her back, and picked up her weapons.

"What took you so long? Nervous? Regretting your decision? If you apologize in front of everyone now, I’ll let you off with just being my servant for one year."

"You know, you’re really annoying, right?"

Adrian drew his sword and pistol. He held them in front of him, in a cross guard, as the two duelists waited for a moment.

The crowd watched with bated breath, as they circled each other slowly. They were in a small arena. The ones used for proper sparring by the older students in the Academy. And one of those older students was refereeing this bout.

The boy looked between the two duelers, and nodded.

"You may begin," he declared.

Onia wasted no time. She charged Adrian without any hesitation.

Adrian backed up, and fired two bolts at her. She raised her shield to block. The bolts of stun energy bounced harmlessly off it.

The girl closed the distance in an instant. She was not incredibly fast, but the arena was not huge either. And Adrian could only back up so quickly.

He lowered his gun, and braced for the coming attacks. He deflected a swing at his head. Blocked a strike to his body.

Adrian sidestepped a stab, countering with his own attack. He slashed at the girl, but her shield took the hit.

The boy tried circling around her, attacking her as he went. But her defense was good. What she did not block with her shield, she parried with her sword.

Her face, her body, her arms. There was no difference. Everywhere he swung at, the girl would block.

True to what everyone had said, Adrian was not the most skilled duelist. He was talented, but he was still new to it. Yet, he saw that she was not moving. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground, as she guarded from the onslaught.

Adrian saw his chance. An opening. He went low, straight for her legs—

And he stumbled backwards.

She bashed him with her shield. She pressed him as he steadied himself, and managed to land a hit to his side.

Adrian reeled back from the hit, but he managed to roll out of the way from the next strike.

"Is that all you’ve got? How disappointing, after all that talk you’ve been doing," Onia taunted him.

The boy got back up. He felt his heart racing, as the crowd cheered for the noble girl. Her defense was good. Almost too good.

They were all right. Adrian was not good at dueling. At least, not yet.

As of right now, whatever he learned in the last few months was not enough to beat someone who had been doing it for years. She had to have studied all the basic weaknesses to her defense. She was prepared for it.

Adrian drew his gun, and fired more shots at her. It made no difference. She brought her shield up as she charged him. She watched as he tried to step into her guard.

It was ridiculous. She would just knock him back again—

Adrian grabbed her shield with one hand, and head butted her.

Onia staggered.

She slashed at him with her sword, but he just took the hit. She tried to swing her shield at him, but she struggled as he held on to it. He had tossed away his own sword! Then Adrian raised his other hand.

The noble girl’s eyes widened, as she stared down the barrel of a gun.

Adrian pulled the trigger once, and Onia stabbed him in the chest.

Twice, and she tried to kick him back.

After the third shot, she finally let go of her shield and tried to back up.

On the fourth, fifth, and sixth shot, she dropped her weapon, collapsed, and covered up in pain.

"I yield! I yield!" she cried out frantically.

And Adrian stopped firing.

The crowd was dead silent, as Adrian stood triumphantly over the Onia Octavius. The duel was over.

He had won.

It was a dirty win. And Adrian did not come out unpunished. He had a few bruises on him from all the hits he took. But that did not change the outcome.

The boy refereeing the duel stared at him. He pointed accusingly at Adrian.

"Y-you can’t do that!"

There were a few murmurs or agreement. Adrian just shrugged.

"Why not? It’s not against the rules."

And there was more talking. As everyone realized he was right. It did not go against the rules of a duel. But…

"But if she was using real weapons, you’d be dead!"

"Well it’s not even a real duel. And I’m not dead. So I’m the winner, right?"

Adrian looked at the referee, and the older boy answered. "You are, but—"

"Good," Adrian said, satisfied. Then he walked up to the noble girl, as one of her lackeys was helping her up. "Now then, where’s my apology?"

Onia froze. Ilyse spoke up from her side. "You cheated! That was unfair! She doesn’t have to apologize to you!"

"But I won. He said so." Adrian gestured at the referee, and he slowly nodded. "So give me what I deserve. Apologize."

"I can’t! Why should I apologize to you! You’re a filthy peasant!" Onia said, clearly flustered.

"It was part of our agreement. I thought you were a Duke’s daughter. Don’t you have any honor?"

"I—" The girl wanted to argue. But she caught a glimpse of the crowd. At everyone staring at her. They knew he was right.

And she did too. So, with her cheeks burning red, she whispered to him.

"I… I’m sorry."

Adrian wanted to say something like ‘I can’t hear you’. To taunt her, and relish his victory. But he was not that cruel. He took his apology in stride.

"Good."

He turned around, and the crowd parted as he made his way out of the room. Alice followed behind him.

"You did it, Adrian! That was so cool! How did you know to do that?"

"Her defense was too strong. So I just attacked her where she was most vulnerable, even if it made me vulnerable."

"But isn’t that dangerous? You could get hurt! I mean— you did get hurt!"

"I know. But I’ve seen it done before. And it… well, it mostly worked out."

"Really? When?"

The boy shrugged.

"Someone did it. When they were fighting a Monster."

"Someone?" The girl tilted her head to the side. "Who?"

Adrian did not answer her question. But the answer was obvious to him.

That person was Melas.

Chapter 3: Freedom

"Next."

The guard called out. A family of three approached him, all dressed in dirty clothing. He sighed.

More refugees.

He put on his best neutral face and spoke out.

"The price is four silver per person to enter Laxis."

"Four silver?!" the father exclaimed. "But that’ll be a gold coin for all of us! We can’t pay that!"

"Too bad. Blame all the other refugees trying to cross the border for the price hike. Either pay up, or get out of the way."

"Please," the mother pleaded. "Our city was sacked by an army of escaped slaves. We lost everything!"

"I’m sorry, Miss. But if we let everyone in for free, our country would be overrun by refugees in days."

The border guard had no problems with telling adults to leave. But he was not cruel. He was just doing his job. And his job became extremely hard when there were children.

"Mommy, what’s going on? Are we not going?"

A little girl tugged at the woman’s sleeves. The woman bent over her daughter and gave her a hug. "I’m sorry, honey. I don’t think we can."

"Why not?"

"Because…" The mother began to explain to her daughter.

The guard tried to ignore that. He focused on the man as he tried to beg him to grant them entry.

"Can’t you let us in. We’ll pay you when we get the money! Please."

"I can’t. You have to pay upfront to enter. No exceptions for anyone."

"But—"

"I’ll pay for them."

A voice interrupted them. The guard narrowed his eyes, as a girl approached them from behind.

She had long black hair that went down her shoulders. Her eyes were silver. Like a mirror. He almost thought he could see himself in her gaze.

She walked with a long wooden stick by her side. A hiking staff? It was too big for her, but she held it anyway.

Unlike the refugees coming into the country, she was not dirty. Her clothes looked recently washed. And her face was clean. Not a mark to be seen on it.

But make no mistake, she was a girl.

Perhaps only a few years older than the daughter of the family if the guard had to guess. And yet, she still smiled kindly at them.

"I’m sorry, little Miss. I don’t think you can—"

"It’s one gold coin for them, right?" The girl reached into a pouch, and pulled something out. "Here’s two gold. For them, and for me."

"That’s—"

"It’s real. You can check, if you want. I’m willing to wait. I don’t mind if it takes five minutes or five days. Just as long as you can let us through."

"But…" The border guard hesitated. He peered at the coins, resting on the palm of the girl’s hands. It was probably real.

He had seen enough counterfeit coins to discern what was clearly fake from what was real. He took the coins from her hand, felt its weight, and thought of the hassle that came with checking the legitimacy of the coins.

Then finally he decided that it was real.

"Fine. You may enter."

He waved them through. He grabbed for some silver, but the silver eyed girl stopped him.

"Keep the change," she said. Then she added. "Or maybe, use it for the next people who can’t afford to enter. It’s up to you whether you want to be kind or not. I can't force you to do either one."

The border guard slowly pocketed the gold, as the family began thanking the girl.

"You saved us!" The father clasped the girl’s hand tightly. Then he asked, "But why would you do this? We’re strangers."

"It’s not a problem," she answered. "I just know what it’s like wanting to leave the Free Lands. That’s all."

The mother bowed deeply. "Could we know your name?"

"I'm Melas."

"Melas," the father repeated it. "What a beautiful name for a child with a beautiful soul such as you."

The mother nodded beside him. "Thank you, Melas. You are truly a blessing from the Goddess herself!"

And although the daughter was still sniffing. She was the only one who noticed how the girl flinched at hearing the Goddess.

"Haha, thanks…"

***

Free at last.

I was finally free. No longer was I in the Free Lands. Now, I was away from the Free Cities. A free American finding their freedom!

Ok, maybe that was too much.

But I was happy. More than I had been in so long. I felt like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders as I crossed the checkpoint into Laxis.

The landscape looked no different; the people looked the same; yet make no mistake, this was another country.

And while borders were arbitrarily drawn by people. While there was no real distinction between the Free Lands and Laxis. I still saw some kind of a difference between the two.

Was it something that was tangible, or was it a purely psychological thing? I did not know.

But now, everything that happened in the Free Lands was all behind me; my time as a slave was long gone.

My fingers twitched, as I instinctively wanted to reach for my face. But there was nothing there. Not since the night I killed Victor.

My slave mark was gone.

It had been a few months since then; I did not know what magic that was. I thought it could have been a miracle, but it became something else. All I knew was that it healed me completely, and it made me stronger.

It was some kind of physical enhancement spell. Like in Shamanism. But those kinds of magic should not have been so quick to cast. Regardless, I now felt stronger than I’d ever been— even in my past life. I was as strong as any regular adult. That was how I had been surviving.

Plus, I had been using all the gold Victor had on him to pay for all my expenses. I felt for the pouch on my belt, as I looked up at the wagon driver.

"How much longer?" I asked.

"We’ll be reaching the nearest town soon," he said. "You sure you want to just stop there? I could bring you further into Laxis, if you’d like."

"I’m fine." I waved a hand reassuringly; I sat up, and spoke softly. "I’m just taking things at a slow, relaxed pace."

I had bid the family farewell once we crossed the border, and proceeded to hitch a ride on a passing wagon. It was not far to the closest border town, but it was still a few hours walk. And just over an hour by wagon.

So I had lain back down, next to some grain sacks, and stared at the rolling, tall hills stretching across the horizon.

This was the Incen Mountain Range which also made the border between Rem and the Free Lands; it cut across the continent covering thousands of miles. And while the peaks here were far shorter than the ones I had seen back in Villamcreek, they still rose high up into the sky. Far above the clouds.

It made me feel small. Tiny, in a sense. But that put me at ease too.

All my struggles— all that I had been through that put me through so much pain seemed so… minor, relative to everything else that was going on in the world. Like if I was compared to a mountain, my problems were trivial.

That was not to say, what happened was insignificant. It was important to me. It mattered specifically because it happened to me.

What Victor did was wrong. I had hoped he could have changed, but he did not. So I killed him. Even though I thought he was a good guy.

And retrospectively speaking, he never was one; I did not realize it then because I was starved of any affection after my mom's death and becoming a slave, but he was narcissistic, manipulative, and a pathological liar. All the signs were there and I even knew what they were supposed to be, but I failed to see it in the moment.

I did not believe for one second that he adhered to the restrictions the Infernalis set for him. He was a terrible person. So I killed him, even though he saved my life.

I did not regret my actions— what I did— but I was still sad that things did not work out in the end.

However, I did not dwell on it now.

"We’re here, little Miss," the wagon driver called back. He turned around, and raised an eyebrow at me. "You sure you don’t wanna go any further? I could take you to—"

"Thank you," I said as I smiled politely. I grabbed a few coins, and handed it to him. "I appreciate your help. But I’m stopping here."

The man blinked at the coins as they glimmered in his hand. His eyes widened, and he tried to protest. "Little Miss, I can’t take this from you. These are silver coins!"

But I just waved back at him.

I hefted my bag around my shoulders, and clasped the wooden staff on one hand. Victor’s staff. I held it to my side, as I walked into the town alongside numerous other travelers.

Maybe I was being too liberal in my spending today. I barely had 25 gold left. It would probably only last me another two months if I continued spending it like I had for the last few hours. What I had left was probably what the average household in the Rem Republic made in a year.

But I did not come from an average household; I was from some rural village with only my mom working to make money. This was a lot more gold than I’d ever seen back then. So I was definitely not good at being economical with it currently.

Not like it mattered to me right now. To me, this was like a vacation; it was a holiday where I no longer had to worry about being kidnapped into slavery while I was asleep, or get attacked by the ground number of criminals in the Free Lands.

Since I had no job, money was going to be a problem in the future. And since I was only going to spend it like a moron for today, I could stave off my worries about the lack of gold until it started to become an issue half a year from now.

I took a deep breath and cast my gaze heavenward.

The air was clean. It was fresh and good to breathe, even if it was thinner up in this altitude. The sun was still high up in the sky. There was not a cloud to be seen. A breeze brushed past my face, as I finally exhaled.

It was not too cold. I found it to be slightly chilly, but nothing remotely uncomfortable.

The town was by the face of a cliff. A small waterfall ran down its side, and cut through the houses and roads. I crossed a bridge over the splashing currents, and stopped to admire the view for a moment.

The crashing of the water filled the background, but not overwhelmingly so. It was like a nice, peaceful sound a person from my world would listen to as they went to sleep. It was like a white noise that only added to the serenity of the moment. Light chatter came from all directions but faded into the ambience of this town.

It was... relaxing.

Like a piece of art they came to life. My lips curled to a smile, as I took it all in. It was nothing like the Free Lands. Even if the towns and cities were exactly the same— which they weren't— I could never find a moment of peace while I was back there. I could never relax like this.

I slowly continued down the road, searching for an inn or some place to stay. I stopped a few people, asking them for directions. They always gave me an odd look when I thanked them and went on my way, but I was used to it by now. In fact, I could understand what they were thinking: a kid should not be traveling alone like I was. So I paid it no mind.

Eventually, I found an inn and wandered in. The innkeeper— a middle aged man with a beard— raised a brow as I approached him.

"Can I help you, Miss?"

"I was looking for a room to stay," I said, as I produced a few silver coins and placed it on the counter. "Just for a few days. Then I’ll be gone."

"Well, that’ll be more than enough for a few days. Lucky you, we just so happened to have one room left available," the innkeeper said with a smile.

No questions asked, huh? Not that I mind it.

"Been crowded lately?" I made small talk.

"Indeed. Many people have been fleeing the Free Lands in the past few months. Although the number has been dwindling as of late. We still have a full house for most weeks."

He counted the silver coins, and dragged it over to his side of the wooden table. He pulled out a key, before adding.

"By the way, it’s two silver per night. I know it’s a bit pricey, but we’ve had to jack up the cost due to all the people coming in looking for a room. Don’t worry, it comes with a complimentary breakfast and dinner. And since you’re still a child, I’ll make it one silver."

"Thank you, Sir—"

I was gratefully accepting the room key and the discount, when a voice interrupted me.

"Huh? I come here every day and you don’t give me anything for free. But to people like her— these refugees bringing their disease into our country— you’re offering a discount?!"

A man staggered over to us from a table; I frowned as I caught a whiff of alcohol when he spoke.

"Disease? What are you talking about?" I asked, more confused than anything.

The man wobbled, and then jabbed a finger in my direction. "Y-you heard me! People like you are bringing the Noxeus in from your poor and dirty countries!" he said, slurring every other word.

I was about to tell him that I was not actually from the Free Lands, when the innkeeper spoke over my shoulder.

"Go home, John. You’re drunk."

"Drunk? I’m not drunk. You’re drunk!"

The innkeeper sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You’re disturbing a child. And you spent the whole morning drinking every wine, beer, and whiskey I have in stock. You are drunk."

"A child?" The man leaned over to me and squinted. "That’s not a child."

"Yes she is."

"Yes I am."

The innkeeper and I both remarked at the same time.

The drunk man scowled, and took a step back. "Whatever," he said. Then he turned around and stormed off.

I watched him trip over himself and mutter curses under his breath as he left the inn. The innkeeper apologized from my behind.

"I’m sorry about him. He lost his wife a month ago due to the plague. He blames the refugees coming in for it, since many of them, unfortunately, bring the Noxeus with them. And while it is partially true, his anger is still misguided."

"I see," I said, feeling pity for the man.

The Noxeus was a terrible plague; its causes weren’t exactly known, although it was exacerbated in places with poor living conditions. But that did not mean you were immune if you lived in a rich clean city. Anyone could catch it.

And with all the chaos caused by the Abominations, slave revolts, and the Dark Crusaders— the latter two simply capitalizing on the first— it was no wonder that the Noxeus had been spreading in the Free Lands.

I saw many people who had it as I journeyed to Laxis through the Free Lands. And I saw more who had it that were already dead. My stomach twisted just remembering the sight.

I wanted to help these people, but I could not.

There was no cure to it; at least, not any that I had heard of. There were Alchemists in the Holy Xan Empire looking into the plague, trying to create some kind of potion to somehow heal it. But all they have managed to do was lessen the symptoms.

It was incurable.

So I tossed these worries aside.

I took the key to my room from the countertop, as the innkeeper guided me to my room; it was on the second floor, third room to the right. I entered it, thanking the innkeeper again as I did.

The door closed behind me as I inspected the room. It was not big, fancy, or anything of the like; it barely even had a bed and a desk fit inside of it.

Slowly, I put down my bag, and rested my staff against the wall. I was content with this room. Plus, I was finally alone. I took a deep breath—

And I jumped on the bed and rolled around on it.

"I’m so tired! Traveling and camping out sucks! [Thank God for beds!]"

I said the last part in English because that was how relieved I felt at that moment. I exhaled and grabbed a pillow to hug.

"I never want to walk anywhere ever again! My feet hurt so much!" I complained to nobody but myself. Then I heard a thumping on the walls.

"Hey! Keep it down in there!"

I sat up. Face burning red with embarrassment.

"Oops, sorry!"

I called back. Thin walls. Should’ve expected that.

I sighed, and relaxed. I took a moment longer to settle in, before I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye.

Peeking out of the top of my bag, was the tip of a book. I glanced at the leather cover, just waiting for me. Then I walked over to it.

I opened the bag; there were a dozen different books of different sizes in it. It reminded me a bit of a school bag with all these books in it.

But unlike those textbooks, these were books on magic. Grimoires filled with knowledge how to cast spells; some of them only had history and religious theory. But it was all very informative nonetheless.

I received these books when I was with the Dark Crusaders. With Karna, Gessitt, Ihsan, and even Victor. Back then, I studied nearly every day for over a month.

But I had not been studying as much since I left them. That was not to say I have not been practicing magic at all; I read the books and tried casting some spells whenever I was alone and had the time. But there was a certain level of secrecy that came with doing magic.

I might as well as have gone around holding up a sign saying ‘I’m a heretic’ rather than read one of these books in public. At least for the first scenario, I might not get arrested if people thought it was a practical joke.

Now however, I had some privacy. I could become even more powerful. Be able to defend myself from all threats. It was not highest up in my priority list, but it was important.

So my arm jerked. I reached for my backpack, hand hovering over the books.

I paused.

Then I took out my coin purse, and placed it inside the bag. I fished out half of my coins, before closing it all shut.

I turned around, and danced out of the door. I was in a good mood. I was out of the Free Lands, or because I had a good and proper place to sleep. This was like a vacation. It was a holiday to me. And during holidays, there was one thing I always looked forward to the most—

I’m going to go shopping!

Maybe I was being a tiny bit hyperbolic. But I had always enjoyed shopping. There was something fun to me about trying on new clothes and different styles. Especially if I went out with friends.

However, I did not have many friends in this world. Which sucked. But at least there were no designer brands here for me to waste my money on.

Of course, I ended up not buying too much. But I did go to a few shops and settled on a new outfit for me to wear from now on.

I was getting a bit tired of the hooded leather clothes that were given to me by the Dark Crusaders; I wanted something new. And I ended up getting a set I really liked.

But all in all, it was completely uneventful.

It was shopping. There was nothing to say about it. Most people who accompanied someone shopping would just sit on a chair, waiting while bored out of their mind. The same concept applied here.

The most notable thing to happen was when I stopped to have my lunch. I received a lot of side eyes for eating much more than I should have for someone my size.

I did not understand the judgment: food was good, and I liked food.

After that, I stopped by one last shop. A young woman looked up as I entered the door.

"Welcome, little girl. Did you need something?" She leaned over the countertop, peering at me. "Are you lost? Do you need help finding your parents?"

"I’m not lost," I said as I shook my head. I raised a finger, and pointed at something hanging off the wall. "I’m looking to buy that, but in a different color."

"Oh, that?" She turned to face it. "Sure. But depending on the dye, it’ll cost more. And do you want a newly made one, or that exact one?"

She was rather chatty. And she spoke informally. Overall, she seemed friendly.

I probably would have been friends with someone like her in my previous life. But my current life was different. I had to stay cautious. I could not befriend everyone I met.

I had to survive.

So, I simply answered her question.

"I’d prefer it if it were brand new."

"I see, I see." She nodded. "It’ll take a few days. But it’ll be ready by this week. And you’ll have to pay half now. Is that ok?" she asked.

"Mhm."

I told her what color I wanted it in, and started pulling out coins. The young woman continued speaking as I did.

"You know, I never really understood the appeal of those. I hear it got popular in the Rem Republic, but it never really took off here. Why do you want one?"

I glanced at it, then back at her. "Are you asking why I would want to wear that?"

"Yes," she confirmed. She began to explain herself. "To me, the wide brim and the long pointy end looks a bit silly. Well, I guess the traveller’s hat does have a wide brim. And pointed caps aren’t too uncommon. But still… y’know…"

I laughed.

"I know. It does look a bit weird if you think about it. But I have to wear those."

The milliner blinked.

"Why?"

"Because," I started, turning around to leave.

A small smile spread across my face, as I answered her question.

"I’m a [Witch], after all."

Chapter 4: Alleyway Meeting

The ball of light danced on the palm of my hand.

I brought it up, and it shifted; its color changed from blue, to yellow, to purple. Then it expanded.

It grew larger and larger. Until it was about the size of a soccer ball. And it began to split: from one to two; then from two to three.

The three balls of magic hovered next to me. I smiled, as the magic circle dissipated yet the spell stayed. I began to move it, and it obeyed.

I started spinning it around my shoulders. Gently at first. Then faster. And faster—

I felt my control over one of the Explosive Orbs slip out of my grasps.

It flew out of control. Straight at the walls of my room. But I was prepared for something like that to happen.

I brought a hand up, and without even pointing:

Dispel Magic.

The spell gave in without any resistance. All three orbs vanished, leaving nothing behind. I sighed in relief as I wiped sweat off my forehead.

That was close.

I knew something was going to go wrong; I was practicing pre-casting spells— a type of spellcasting that allowed me to go into an engagement with magic at the ready. There was no need for a magic circle to control it after it’s been cast.

Normal spells could not do that. They required you to concentrate on maintaining the magic circle, which would prevent you from casting too many spells at once.

It was different from keeping a spell at the ready— pre-casting would already have the magic out, whereas the former would simply lessen the time it took for the spell to form.

A perfect example of the difference between the two was what just happened earlier: Dispel Magic was prepared on one hand, whereas I had the Explosive Orbs pre-cast and flying around the room. I specifically made sure I had Dispel Magic at the ready since I was not experienced with pre-casting, and knew something would go wrong.

That was because pre-casting required a lot of refined control over magic; something which I was still lacking as of now. I could cast Fireball and even stronger spells after much studying over the months— but that was simply brute force. There was no elegance to it.

This was different. I could not master it instantly; it still required actual practice, despite my magical abilities. And while it was an incredibly useful skill to learn, it was also completely circumstantial, and could not be done for all spells.

Just like everything else, it had its own drawbacks. Only certain spells worked well with pre-casting, such as Geomancy and Necromancy, or Hydromancy while near a body of water. Things which leaned more towards manipulating what was already there, rather than creating something magical, were better suited for it.

Pyromancy for instance, would typically conjure up magical fire that still required a lot of focus to maintain the spell. While pre-casting took away some of that focus, it was not enough of an advantage to make pre-casting effectively useful.

The same rule generally applied to Thaumaturgy. But the Explosive Orbs were made to suit pre-casting. Like a mine that exploded on contact, or a grenade which you could pull the pin whenever. It functioned as a proper explosive, unlike Magic Bolt or Magic Missiles. Which was why I was practicing my pre-casting with that spell.

Another downside to pre-casting was demonstrated just earlier. Without the magic circle— without direct control over the magic— spells could be very easily dispelled by another person. There was almost no resistance when one tried Dispel Magic on a pre-cast Stone Wall, for instance. The barrier would just come tumbling down back to the ground.

As such, coming into a fight against another powerful spellcaster with dozens of pre-cast spells was not always the best idea. Because it could be very easily dispelled. Not that it was even easy to pre-cast a dozen spells in the first place.

Regardless, it was just another thing to add to my inventory of skills; something I could possibly use to defend myself with. Not that I was looking forward to fighting anybody anytime soon. I just had to be cautious.

So I reached for the grimoire. The book on spellcasting. To read the chapter on pre-casting again; to try to understand where I went wrong. But as I did that, something made me blink.

A beam of light filled my vision, as I shielded my eyes from the window. The curtain was drawn, yet the sun’s rays still peaked through. It was… noon?

No, not yet.

But it was definitely long past sunrise. Which meant I had been studying for at least four hours, considering that I woke up at dawn.

It was a habit I gained from travelling: get up before the sun rises, and make camp before the sun sets. It had forced me to fix my internal alarm clock to wake me up early in the morning.

Even on the first day I arrived on Laxis. When I was in such a good mood I went shopping and basically did absolutely nothing productive for the whole day. I still fell asleep before midnight.

Routines were hard to break. And speaking of routine.

It was time to break my fast— time to go down and eat some breakfast. Or was it brunch? Whatever it was, I was hungry.

So I closed the book, and slid it into my bag. Then I hid my bag under the bed. It was not the most inconspicuous spot, but it was not like I had many options in the first place.

I left my room, and went downstairs; the inn was not particularly crowded. There were only a handful of people along with the innkeeper waiting in the lobby.

"Good morning," I greeted the man.

"Morning," he said, glancing up at me. "Sorry, you’re an hour too late for the free breakfast. Maybe if it was half an hour, I’d still let you have it. But unfortunately it was not, so you’ll have to pay if you want to eat here."

"It’s fine, I’ll pay," I reassured him.

Although I did say I was alright with it, free food was free food. And the fact that I missed it because I lost track of time annoyed me a bit. Not enough to sour my mood— it was a mild inconvenience at best.

"Do you want lunch or breakfast?" he asked, as he was about to head into the kitchen. Then he added in with a laugh. "Or both? I’ve seen you eat, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what you wanted."

I gave him a mock glare. "Hey! I don’t eat that much."

We both chuckled for a moment, before I gave him a serious response.

"But I’d like both, please."

His smile slipped, and he nodded. "Oh, uh, sure. Coming right up."

"Thanks," I said, a tiny bit embarrassed.

But what could I say? Their cook made some good food; it was not my fault I liked it!

I finished my meal, and held back a burp. I did not want to attract any more stares than I already was getting; especially not over having no manners.

I paid the innkeeper before excusing myself for a moment of relief. Then I left the inn to go about my day.

It had been three days since I went to the hat shop. The young woman— who I assumed was the milliner— told me to come back in a few days, without giving me a specific timeframe. So I assumed today would have been fine to just come in and check the progress.

I casually entered the hat shop, pushing the door open as I went.

"Greetings," I spoke politely.

"Oh, it’s the little girl!" A head popped over the counter, followed by a cheerful voice. "Here to check on your pointy hat?"

"Yes. Is now a good time?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed, setting something aside underneath the desk. Then she faced me. "Oh, nice cape by the way. Is that new? Looks expensive."

I adjusted the mantle around my shoulders slightly, and smiled. "Thank you. I can afford it."

But that did not mean I should have bought it— not that I regretted buying it. I only spent a total of five gold the day I left the Free Lands. Which was quite a lot; it was almost half of what I had spent in the few months traveling alone.

I did it because I wanted to relax, even for a single day.

However I knew I was not necessarily being smart with my money, even at that moment. There was no retrospective realization; I stood by my decision, despite knowing it was slightly foolish. I simply treated this as a sort of pseudo vacation— and what vacations did not have a bit of expenses?

Of course, I had no reason to explain all that to the young woman. So I quickly changed the subject to what I came here to talk about, not to waste any time.

"Do you know when my hat will be ready?"

"Yes," she said, clasping her hands together. "It’ll be ready in three days. Your design is pretty simple, even if it’s quite big. But I have a few other orders, so I’m busy with those. Honestly though, since my grandpa retired, I’ve been doing this solo for the past year. I might just get an apprentice to help me out, even though I’m no expert yet..." The young woman rambled on for a while longer.

I waited until she finished before replying. "I see, so come back in three days?"

"Yep," she confirmed. "Come back in three days."

I thanked her, bowing my head slightly, before I took my leave. She called out after me as I left the shop.

"Take care, little girl! Don’t go into an alley with a stranger! Even— no, especially if they have candy!"

I smiled slightly in response, but otherwise I did not reply; I was grateful for her concerns, just exhausted at hearing similar sentiments all the time.

I was not an idiot: traveling alone as a kid through the Free Lands was not exactly the safest journey, yet I made it out unscathed... relatively speaking. Not just because of my magic either— I made sure to always err on the side of caution unless it was necessary.

What ‘necessary’ meant, of course, was wholly dependent on the context. I might have found it necessary to intervene if I saw someone getting murdered, but stayed back if it was a simple robbery…

Well maybe if their entire life savings were being stolen from them, then I probably would help them too.

But no magic. I could not risk using magic, unless I was going full scorched earth— leaving no one alive.

Which was a grim thought. And something I wanted to avoid as much as possible. Hence why I decided not to use magic… unless necessary.

As was becoming quite obvious to me, there were a lot of qualifying statements to be made; I was pretty uncertain. The only thing I knew for sure was that I would judge things on a case-by-case basis and figure out where to go from there.

However, in general, I was going to rely on what I could do with what I had on me. Which was— as of right now— only a dagger.

And some gold coins. Which was not very helpful, considering I had to be frugal in my spending.

Until I found a job. And I had an incredibly limited scope of jobs I could take up.

As the milliner had briefly mentioned, regular kids my age would be doing apprenticeships in this part of the world. That meant settling down and starting a new life, pretending I was not wanted by both the Holy Xan Empire and the Dark Crusaders for various different reasons.

As of right now, I was considering many different options: living a life of isolation (which I did not want); becoming a Hunter or a Mercenary; or finding my way back to Earth. The last option was quite clearly impossible, but I was holding out meeting with that false god again, and maybe getting him to do something like a reverse reincarnation to send me back. I hate this world after all—

I felt someone bump into me as I was passing through a crowd.

I did not hesitate. I whirled around and reached for my coin pouch. As expected, it was not there.

I made eye contact with a kid dressed in ragged clothes. Neither of us paused. Both of us immediately jumped into action.

"Stop! Thief!"

I yelled out, chasing after the boy. He dashed past a group of adults, who simply gave us an odd look.

"We’re not playing—"

I cut myself off; there was no time to explain anything. If they were not going to help me because they thought this was a game, then fine. But I was not going to lose half my gold to some thief. Especially when I knew the whole drill of bumping into someone and taking their stuff (from watching enough movies back when I was still on Earth).

The kid ducked into an alleyway, and I followed suit. I drew my dagger as I did, careful of a possible ambush; just because he looked like he was alone, did not mean that he was.

I closed the distance between myself and the boy. We were about the same size, but I was clearly faster. He was about to turn a corner when I reached out and grabbed him.

He could not escape the same way he would with an adult.

So, he tried to shake me off. Tried to pry off my grip. But I held strong. Far stronger than he expected.

"Let me go—"

He raised his other hand, pulling back for a punch. But I twisted the arm I was holding, circling around his back.

The boy yelped, continuing his struggle.

"Give it back," I said, from his behind.

"What are you doing?! I haven’t done—"

He froze as he saw the flash of metal. The cold blade's edge was not pressed against his skin; the dagger was sharp, and I did not want to hurt him without reason.

Instead, I held it half an inch off his neck. Far enough that he would not get cut unless he made any sudden movements. Which was the point— I did not want him to somehow escape.

"Give it back," I demanded with finality in my voice.

I edged the blade even closer to him. I was precise in my movement; I had not been neglecting training with my dagger, since unlike magic it would not have gotten me in trouble. Plus, becoming physically stronger made me more motivated to practice what Karna taught me. So I trusted myself not to accidentally kill the boy.

He inhaled sharply. "But I..." he started, before eyeing the dagger for a moment. The threat was apparently very convincing, since he gave up with a sigh. "It’s in my left pocket— please, just don’t hurt me!"

"I won’t, as long as you don’t move."

I lowered my weapon, and reached down. My grip did not loosen for a second. I found my coin pouch after a moment, but I still did not let go.

"And everything’s in here?" I asked, while counting out my coins.

"Yes," he said quickly. "I didn’t have time to take anything! It’s all in there!"

He was telling the truth; I only brought half of my gold with me. And it was all in there. So I let go of the boy’s wrist, letting him fall to the ground.

He began rubbing his hand. "O-ouch… What is wrong with you?!"

I narrowed my eyes. "What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you? You tried to steal from another child! At least try and steal from an adult or something."

"I had no other choice!" he protested. "And I saw you. When you first arrived. You were spending your money left and right. I thought you were rich— so I…" he trailed off.

"So you targeted me," I finished his sentence for him. I folded my arms, and glared at him. "That does not change the fact that I’m younger than you, you know."

I was guessing. He was about my height, but from his frame— how thin he was— I assumed he was not nourished well enough to grow properly. I was malnourished for a while as a slave, but I had been eating plenty since then.

"How can someone younger than me be that strong," he muttered under his breath. Then he got up slowly, still grasping his sore arm. "Look, I’m sorry, ok? But I— we needed the money."

"And am I supposed to just give it to you?" I frowned.

"Yes? No? I dunno!" The boy threw up his arms. "Please, my home— my family— it’ll all be gone if I don’t get some money." He pleaded.

"You’re begging me now. After you tried to steal from me," I stated flatly.

"I—" he bit his tongue. He got on his knees, and bowed his head deeply. "I know you’re rich. And I’m so sorry for trying to rob you. But I saw you had plenty of gold. If you could just give me one— it’ll be enough. Goddess grace us, I don’t care if they take me away— as long as Ms Sharity and Patty are safe. They have the Noxeus! And if I have some coins, I could get the Plague Doctor to cure them."

Plague Doctor? I raised a brow at that.

The boy prostrated in front of me. I looked him over; studying his expression.

His eyes were closed shut, but I saw tears leaking out of his eyes. His jaw was clenched, as he begged me to give him just a little bit of money.

I sighed deeply, and the boy raised his head. His gaze swung up to me. His eyes lit up, and I saw… hope.

"Yeah right, as if I’ll believe that."

It was not like I could not sympathize with the kid. I’ve stolen once before. Food to eat. But if I ever found myself in a precarious spot, I would not hesitate to steal money if need be.

However, there was a difference between being nice and being an idiot.

I remembered Victor. All the casual lies he would feed me, with a bit of truth sprinkled in between, to keep me believing him. But if that was not enough, I also remembered those slaves.

Those two slaves in Bys— the ones I freed. How they came back to betray us, nearly sabotaging all of our escape.

Fact of the matter was: trust is not something I have plenty of right now.

Perhaps if this was three days ago, I would have given him the gold even after he tried to steal from me. Not because I believed him— I would never have believed him even if I was in a good mood; but because I was just that generous that day.

However, I had no reason— nothing to sway me— to give him even a single copper coin. Especially not after he gave me such an obviously made up story.

The boy stared at me for a moment, mouth agape, as I began to leave. Then he sputtered out.

"I’m not lying!"

I did not want to engage, so I continued walking. But apparently that only made him shout louder.

"I’m not lying, and if you think I am, you’re a stupid idiot! Everyone knows about what’s going on at my orphanage!"

I stopped midstep.

I would say that I only stopped because of the last bit he said. But that would be a lie; his provocations definitely did play a part in getting me to turn back around.

For now though, I focused on the last bit.

"Orphanage? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I told you," he answered matter-of-factly. "Ms Sharity is sick. She takes care of all of us. But when little Patty got the Noxeus, she could not just leave her alone. So now she has the plague too."

"So what has that got to do with you being taken away?"

"How do ya not know this? You’re so stupid." I ignored his remark. "Ms Sharity can’t pay back those men now. Those she’s been borrowing money from to keep our orphanage running. They said they’ll take us away if we don’t pay ‘em. But I don’t care about that! I just want Ms Sharity and little Patty to live."

"But the Noxeus is incurable. Money won’t help you here." I pointed out the fact; the boy opened his mouth, but I cut him off quickly. "And if you call me dumb, stupid, or anything like that again, I’ll punch you."

Jerk, I added in my head.

He nodded slowly, taking a step back. "Well you’re still wrong. The Plague Doctor can cure it. And he’s visiting our town right now. That’s why I need some money— to pay him to cure Ms Sharity and Patty."

"That’s ridiculous," I said. "No one can cure the Noxeus. I’ve never even heard of a plague doctor before."

"He’s not a plague doctor. He’s the Plague Doctor. He’s been going around and curing the Noxeus for years!"

"And how do you even know that? Have you seen him cure someone before?"

"I— uh, no," he said meekly. "But I’ve heard people say so!"

"And that means it’s true?" I cocked a brow. The boy tried working his mouth, but nothing came out. I continued. "And even if it’s actually true and he can cure the plague, how do you even know that he’s the real Plague Doctor, and not some fraud?"

"I…" the boy hesitated. Then he glared back at me. "I have to try. Ms Sharity did everything for us. Did everything for Patty too. I have to save her. Save them. If I just have enough money… I don’t want either of them to die."

He said, as tears began dripping off his face. He was crying. It was not just some waterworks, but he was full on bawling his eyes out. I felt… bad, for him. But this could have still been a ploy.

Kids could fake cry. They did it all the time. Yet something about this seemed familiar. Something…

A memory. A conversation I had with Theodore. One of the only slaves I talked to, other than the Beastkin. How he treated me kindly— and why he treated me kindly. Because…

His family died to the Noxeus. His wife and daughter. He needed more money— if only he had more money. He could have—

I felt my stomach twist. It was a terrible fate; he borrowed gold from some men, to try and cure his wife and daughter. But it was not enough. And when he could not pay them back, he was sold off to slavery.

This seemed like a similar situation; maybe I could help. Prevent something like that from happening. But the kid could be lying!

I took a deep breath. I waited for the boy’s crying to stop. Until he was sniffling, and wiping his nose.

"Fine. I’ll give you some money," I said. His head snapped up, but I spoke over him. "However, you have to prove it first."

"Prove it?" He closed and opened his eyes in rapid succession.

"Yes. I’m not going to just give it to you. Bring me to your orphanage, and bring the Plague Doctor there. Then I’ll pay him— only if he really can heal the Noxeus."

The boy hesitated. "But…"

"Is something wrong?" I asked. "Why can’t you bring me to your orphanage?"

"No, I’m just…" his voice wandered off. Then he straightened. "There’s nothing wrong. I’ll bring you there. And prove to you that you’re an idiot for thinking that I’m lying!"

His eyes flashed; he looked at me, resolute. I nodded for a moment.

Then I snapped.

"I said stop calling me an idiot, idiot!"

Chapter 5: The Plague Doctor

"See? I told you I was telling the truth. Stup—"

Jay clamped his mouth shut as I shot a glare in his direction.

Jay. That was the boy’s name. The little thief who took my coin pouch. He told me it on the way to his orphanage.

On the way here, he made me promise not to tell anyone about him trying to steal from me; that was why he showed apprehension on bringing me here. Apparently he was quite the troublemaker— which somehow, I was not surprised by at all.

And now, we stood right outside of the building; it was not small or run-down. In fact, it was fairly large compared to a house for a regular family. Which made sense: Jay had a dozen other ‘siblings’, so the orphanage had to have been sizable enough for all of them to live in.

"You haven’t shown me anything," I muttered. "This is just a building."

"Well if you still don’t believe me—"

"Shut up, I believe you now, ok? Just… let’s go inside." I said, and took off in a huff.

We entered through the small gate, following the walkway up to the front door; Jay opened it, and I entered after him.

As soon as I did, I covered my ears as a piercing wail cut through the room; I flinched, and nearly drew my dagger as a reflex but managed to catch myself.

I looked back up, and was met with a scene straight from a movie. A little girl, around four years of age, was crying and grasping at a stuffed animal. Not a teddy bear, but a… mole?

Whatever it was, it appeared to be damaged. And that was why she was crying. A teenage boy— no more than fifteen— hastily ran up to a little girl and began trying to calm her down. She pointed at a younger boy scowling to the side, and began babbling incomprehensibly.

"Calm down, calm— he did what?" The teen leaned in, trying to make out what the girl was saying. But it was no use. He recoiled as her crying morphed from nonsensical speech into incoherent screaming.

I turned to Jay. "Uh, is this a bad time?" I asked.

"No," he sighed. "It’s been like this since Ms Sharity got sick."

"Oh," I said, ignoring the incessant shrieking that was only worsened as the other boy began to argue. I honestly felt bad for the teen trying to resolve things diplomatically, but I focused on what I came here for. "So… this Ms Sharity. Where is she?"

"She’s in a room at the back. But I haven’t been allowed to see her or little Patty. Only Eaton gets to check up on her." Jay folded his arms, scowling. "I don’t understand why I can’t see her but he can. It’s unfair!"

"Well, you’ve got to maintain your distance. Because… you know?"

He obviously did not know; there was no way a random village boy would understand the concept behind germs, especially in a world with a different history of science as mine. Perhaps someone— whatever the equivalent of a scientist was in this world— would posit something similar to my understanding about the spread of disease. But it certainly would not have been pervasive enough to have reached Jay: a kid without much of an educational background.

So, he gave me a blank stare as I tried to change the subject. "Anyways, you’ve got a reason to see her now, right? Just for me to confirm confirm that she’s actually sick and you’re not lying."

That sounded a lot better in my head than it actually did. Jay’s stare turned into a glare, and I quickly tried to backtrack.

"Wait— I didn’t mean it like that! I don’t want her to be sick! If she is, I’ll have to pay the Plague Doctor for you, and that’s bad for me!" I tried to explain myself to him. The shouting in the background slowly died down, but his gaze remained locked on me. "That’s not what I mean... I’ll just shut up now."

"You really should."

Sighing, I focused my attention on the approaching figure. Apparently the teenage boy managed to reach a resolution between the two parties, since they were both heading out the door to the outside. He addressed Jay standing right next to me.

"Why do you never show up when I need your help?" he asked. "Where have you been? Who’s this?"

Jay scowled. "You never ask Hannah these types of questions, Eaton. Why must you know where I’ve been? You’re not my mom!"

"I’m not, but since Ms Sharity has left me in charge and you’re the second oldest man in the house, I have to know what you’ve been doing when you’re gone all morning." Eaton, the teen, said. "Plus Hannah actually helps around the house when I need her."

"Well where is she now? I didn’t see her help you with them." Jay gestured in the direction of the two little kids.

"She’s not home right now. She said she needed to do something. But that doesn’t matter since she couldn’t have helped anyways. But you could’ve fixed Callie’s doll."

"It’s not a doll, it’s a stuffed animal."

"Fine. Just answer the question, Jay." Eaton folded his arms. Jay hesitated for a moment, then he kicked the ground and pocketed his hands.

"I was out with a... friend."

Jay struggled getting that word out; it looked like it hurt him to call me a friend. Which was a sentiment I shared: I had to force myself not to rebuke him there and then.

"A friend?" The teen raised a brow and faced me. Before he could say anything, I put a hand out and spoke politely.

"Hi, I’m Melas. It’s nice to meet you, Mr Eaton."

Blinking, he took my hand. "Oh, uh, it’s nice to meet you too… Melas." He nodded hesitantly, before adding. "And, uh, there’s no need to be so formal. Just call me Eaton."

"Of course, Eaton," I said with a smile. "I hope I’m not intruding. Jay invited me over, but I was not aware that he hadn’t informed anyone of me visiting. If it’s too much of a problem, I could come back another day."

"No, please stay." Eaton scratched his ear. "I mean, you’re just here to hang out with Jay, right?"

I felt my smile slip slightly, but I fought hard to maintain the ruse. Why would I want to hang out with him? He’s a kid and a jerk! A kid-jerk! The worst kinds of jerks!

"Yes." That was all that I said.

"Well, come on in." The teen gestured into the living room. "We have drinks and snacks if you want some."

"If it isn’t a bother."

He led me towards the kitchen as Jay stalked behind me. The younger boy was still glowering with his hands in his pants when Eaton grabbed him and pulled him ahead. Eaton began not-so-covertly whispering to Jay as they walked in front of me.

"I didn’t know you had such a polite friend. Who is she?"

"None of ya business."

"What do you mean ‘none of my business’? I’m your older brother. I deserve to know!"

"No you don’t!"

"Come on, Jay. Tell me. When did you meet her? How? Is she your girlfriend—"

I rolled my eyes and began tuning out the hushed conversation in front of me; it was not like I cared enough to eavesdrop in the first place, but sometimes, some things were hard to ignore. Their discussion ended soon after, as Jay stormed back and began pulling me away by the arm.

"Let’s just go, Melas."

"Wait, but snacks—"

I protested, but ultimately followed him.

There was a reason why I was here. Even if that reason was not high up in my priority list. It was not like I had anything else to do regardless, so why not help someone in need?

And, my true thoughts came leaking out, there is the whole possibility of there being slavers here.

I did not know for certain: it could have been a complete fabrication of my imagination, but I was almost a hundred percent sure that the people this ‘Ms Sharity’ had been borrowing money from were slavers. If that was the case, and they came looking to collect their payment, I did not believe for a second that they would be happy with being turned away empty handed.

This was more than simply being kind to others— more than doing a good deed when I could afford it. If there really were slavers here hoping to sell some kids into slavery...

My fingers twitched, and I felt an invisible itch on my face.

Well, I can’t allow that to happen, now can I?

A moment after Jay started dragging me away from Eaton, the front door flew open, and a girl came running in.

"Guys! Guys!" she exclaimed, looking around the room. She completely glazed over me, and focused in on the two boys staring back at her. "Jay, Eaton! Where are the others?"

"Hannah?" Eaton worked his jaw. "What’s going on?"

"Come on, there’s no time to explain!" Hannah said excitedly. "Gather everyone. I’ll meet you outside!"

Jay frowned and spoke up. "What do ya mean there’s no time to explain. You just spent—"

The girl ignored him and ran out another door. I could hear her calling out names as more kids began to gather, curious about what was happening; I turned to Jay and he just gave me a shrug.

"Let’s go find out what she’s harping on about."

With that, we found ourselves waiting outside along with everyone else from the orphanage. The girl from before— Hannah— stood brimming with excitement before all of us; she was so excited she apparently did not notice the extra person (me) in her family.

"Is that everyone? Good. Now I know you’re wondering why I called you out here—" she started.

Then Jay interrupted her as he picked his nose. "Hurry up, we don’t got all day."

Hannah ignored him.

"But it’ll be much easier to show you than to tell you guys," she said, before she marched up to the gate and yanked it open. A figure stepped around the corner, speaking as he did.

"Now I don’t understand the need to cause a scene. But at your behest, I have done as I was told."

There was visible confusion among everyone around me; they were scratching their heads and murmuring about what was going on as the man stepped through the gates. Jay even nudged me with his elbow, whispering. "Don’t worry. She always does weird things like this."

But I did not hear him. My eyes widened the moment I saw what the man was wearing.

He was dressed in a long tailcoat, complete with a vest underneath. He had one hand on the wide brimmed hat leather hat on top of his head, and another on the long black cane that reached up to his chest. And finally, he wore a mask with tinted glass openings at the eyes, with a protrusion at the very front of it, curved downwards in the shape of a bird’s beak.

That outfit— the signature style of fashion that man wore. I would recognize it anywhere and anyplace. It was…

He was a plague doctor.

And if Jay’s words were anything to go by, he was not just a doctor that went around trying to treat plague victims. No— he was the Plague Doctor.

"Huh? Is that really the Plague Doctor, Melas?"

I blinked. Jay was looking at me, and so was everyone else. I opened my mouth to speak, only to realize it was already open; I did not realize it, but I must have said the words ‘Plague Doctor’ out loud the moment I saw him.

"You ruined my grand reveal—" Hannah paused. "Wait, who are you…?"

I was about to reply, when Jay stepped forward. "She’s my friend, but that doesn’t matter." He said, before turning to the masked man. "Are you really the Plague Doctor?"

"Why yes I am. Although it appears that my reputation precedes me— I did not expect to be recognized solely based on my appearance alone. Even Ms Hannah here had a hard time believing that I was who I said I was."

The girl tried to cover her glowing red cheeks by putting a hand up and clearing her throat. "Ahem, when I heard he was in town, I searched through all inns and taverns to bring him here. He says he’ll help cure Ms Sharity and Patty."

A susurration ran through the crowd. Excited voices came from all around me, as everyone realized what was going to happen. But Jay stepped forward, and pointed accusingly at Hannah.

"And how are you going to afford that? Last I checked, we did not have any money to even pay off the debt collectors!"

Reaching for my coin pouch, I was about to say something, but the Plague Doctor spoke first. "That won’t be a problem, young Sir."

"Huh?"

"This will be free of charge."

"What? Why?" Jay asked, confused.

And I knew the answer even before the Plague Doctor said it.

"Because I am the Plague Doctor."

I should have expected it, really. You did not make a name for yourself by going around curing an incurable plague for years without charging an exorbitant amount of money. That was why I never heard of him; doing things pro bono and not just helping rich people was a surefire way to not become renowned.

It was the same thing in my world. Well, at least for lawyers; I remembered not being able to name a single pro bono lawyer until I researched them (which was what made me interested in law in the first place). Not that any of that even mattered anymore— my aspirations and goals from my previous life played no part in my present situation.

Which was sitting down and doing nothing.

After the Plague Doctor made his introduction and assured everyone that he was helping them for free with no strings attached, he proceeded to treat his patients immediately.

That was two hours ago. He locked the door to their room, saying he needed privacy, and had not come out since.

Honestly, I probably should have left a long time ago. There was no reason for me to stay, now that I was not needed anymore; that was what Jay kept telling me.

But I opted not to leave; since I was already here, I had to make sure that this Plague Doctor was not some sort of con artist trying to scam this orphanage— not that I thought that that was the case. He probably was legit, however I just had to make sure he truly did cure this Ms Sharity and little Patty. Just to fully confirm it.

And anyways, I was trying to gain more information about these so-called ‘debt collectors’. They did not visit often previously, because, according to Jay, Ms Sharity always made her payments on time. However, when they did visit, they would always cause a ruckus: they would threaten to take the house as theirs, or even one of the kids to ‘work’ for them. Thankfully, neither has happened, and I would prefer if it stayed that way.

Unfortunately, Jay could not really tell me much more about them; I wanted to know where their base of operations was, but apparently they worked from out of town, only coming in occasionally for jobs and such. Which screamed all shades of shady to me, if I were being perfectly honest.

With the more questions I asked, I was getting more and more convinced that they were slavers, to the point that even Jay started getting suspicious too. I was just about to leave and begin a real investigation instead of getting answers from kids (mainly Jay) when the door holding the patients and the Plague Doctor slowly creaked open.

All heads snapped to it. Everyone waited with bated breath as someone exited the room. A middle aged woman, holding the hands of a little girl, stepped out of the room. Their clothes were a mess, they had pale skin, and their cheeks were sucked in. But otherwise, they looked fine.

"Ms— Ms Sharity?" Jay stood up, eyes already welling up.

"Patty…?" Hannah uttered the name breathlessly.

The woman opened her mouth, about to say something. But she hesitated. Then a hollow voice came from behind them, accompanied by the figure of a bird.

"There’s no need to be afraid. You are cured. Go ahead and greet your family."

And, almost as if that was the cue they were waiting for, everyone exploded forward. The family— the orphanage— all embraced each other. Clasping hands tightly around each other into a massive group hug.

"My children… how I’ve missed seeing all of you."

It was a heartwarming scene; something straight out of a movie, right before the credits began to roll. I almost expected to see a title screen pop up, as sappy music played in the background.

I watched this happen, standing off to the side. I probably should not have been here for this, but I was too engrossed in the moment to care. However, everyone— myself included this time— was taken out of the moment by loud shouting come from the outside. I knew what to expect even before Ms Sharity spoke.

"Oh no," she said, voice filled with dread. "Everyone, please wait inside. I’ll go out and talk to them."

"We can’t just leave you—"

"Listen to her, Jay." The teenage boy nodded at the woman. "I’ll wait by the front door. In case anything happens."

"Thank you, Eaton."

The family began to move. The younger kids ran off to hide in a room, while the older ones like Hannah, watched from the living room windows. Jay on the other hand, came up to me with a scowl on his face.

"That Eaton, he really…" he trailed off. Then his eyes flickered to something on my waist. "Melas, I need—"

"I’m not just giving all my gold to a bunch of debt collectors, Jay. Especially not for strangers." I answered before he even finished speaking. Perhaps I was being too blunt, but that was the point of why I came here in the first place— to keep both my money and a clear conscience.

"Fine!" Jay snapped, throwing his hands up in the air. "Then I’m going out there and letting them take me. I can’t let them hurt Ms Sharity."

"Stop being so rash," I said, drawing my dagger, "if the worst really comes to the worst— I’ll deal with it."

He hesitated for a moment, but then he nodded. "If you say so…"

I walked past him, up to the front door. I waited right behind Eaton, who was standing a few feet outside, while too focused on the conversation between Ms Sharity and the group of men to even notice me. I listened in too, as the woman pleaded.

"...but I only ever borrowed 5 gold coins from you over the years! And I’ve already paid back more than half of it. How could I possibly owe you 20?!"

"Sorry Miss," one of the men said, not too kindly. "You missed this month's payment. Price goes up when that happens."

"By four times?!" she asked, aghast. "I’ve been consistently paying on time for—"

"Hm, says right here that you missed payments on this date, and this date, and…" A second man handed her a sheet of paper. She sputtered.

"I— this was years ago!"

The men collectively snickered, and only the first guy was cordial enough to give an unhelpful shrug. "Sorry, but it adds up."

Ms Sharity stared at them in complete disbelief. She sunk to her knees, completely speechless at the situation she was in.

I wanted to intervene. I really did. But I was waiting, biding time for the moment. For them to state their true intentions—

"If we can’t get our money, we have to come back with something—"

"Actually, I don’t think that’s necessary."

Darn. Someone interrupted them. I did not even have to turn around to know who it was— the voice that sounded like it came in through a metal pipe gave it away.

The Plague Doctor strolled past me, through the door, and towards the group gathered out front. A man stepped forward to intercept him.

"I’m sorry, Sir. But I suggest you stay out of our business." He folded his arms, trying to flex all his muscles as he did. He was not exactly the biggest person in the world, and neither were any of the men armed with weapons. However, what he said was quite clearly meant to be a threat, considering his six other friends began posturing themselves too.

"Greetings, gentlemen. May I inquire as to what seems to be occurring here?" The Plague Doctor ignored him completely. "Because if you insist on harming the innocent family living in this orphanage— well I’d have to insist you do not, as I’ve just put in considerable effort into helping them."

"Hey, are you deaf?" the man shouted. "I said fuck off!"

"I do apologize, however I must insist you refrain from yelling. You see, the saliva produced from your enunciation gets projected onto my mask— sometimes on the glass at my eyes. And it gets really difficult to see when that happens."

"So you’re blind as well as deaf?" Another man asked. "Because I find that hard to believe. If you continue ignoring us, we’ll have to make you listen."

"Hm." The Plague Doctor considered this. "I don’t suppose any of you can answer my question? It appears your friend here seems to be a little hard of hearing."

"Wh—"

The Plague Doctor struck his cane onto the man’s right ear. He stumbled onto the ground, grasping at the side of his head, and screamed.

"Kill him—"

The man was immediately cut off by a second strike to the back of the neck. He fell incapacitiated to the ground as his friends charged the Plague Doctor.

That was a lot of people. Six versus one. I had seen people face off twice as many opponents before, and come out unscathed. However I knew nothing about this Plague Doctor; I did not want to find out that he was a poor fighter who just made a bad decision.

I was about to jump in to help when I saw the flash. A glowing bottle flew up in the air. Straight from the Plague Doctor’s coat.

I barely even saw him flick it at the men, let alone notice him pulling out the potion.

He swung his cane at the potion, smashing it into pieces. It exploded into light. A dazzling blinding light that forced me to look away and cover my eyes, accompanied by a loud ringing sound. It was like a flashbang grenade!

For a moment, I could not see anything. But I reacted quickly. My vision came back, and I reoriented myself—

Only to see four of the men lying flat on the ground, and the last two stumbling back, having just recovered from being blind. The Plague Doctor tilted his head to the side.

"If you don’t wish to end up like your friends, I suggest you leave."

One of the men only seemed to get more enraged by that. He clenched his fists and punched at the Plague Doctor. The Plague Doctor easily dodged to the side, earning a scream from the man.

"Hahhhh!"

He began flailing the Plague Doctor without stopping Throwing punches and kicks like a madman. The Plague Doctor avoided all of it. He sidestepped a punch. Blocked a kick with his cane. Ducked under a follow up swing—

And then, with little to no effort at all, the Plague Doctor jabbed the butt of his cane into the man’s stomach. The man reeled back, air escaping his lungs. Then he fell to the ground, eyes rolled up into his head.

"Y-you— murderer!"

The last man shouted.

"Oh calm down, he’s not dead. But he’s in a lot of pain. If you don’t want to end up like him, I suggest you take my advice."

He hesitated for a moment. However he quickly made up his mind after looking at all his collapsed friends, and fled the scene.

Seeing the last man flee, I sighed in relief. And was nearly ran over by a bunch of kids bursting out of the orphanage. They all began thanking the Plague Doctor, as Ms Sharity once again fell to her knees— but this time, in gratitude.

"Thank you so much. I— we can’t ever make it up to you."

"I simply saw a family in need and did what any person would do. Do not worry about them. Notify the town guards of what happened here, and they’ll bring them in for extortion and other such crimes."

"But you hwealed us," the little girl— Patty— said, holding his hand. "Thwank you."

The Plague Doctor did not say anything in response. But I thought I could almost see him smile underneath that mask. Then I narrowed my eyes for a moment, catching a glimpse of another vial on his belt. An Alchemist? Was that how he cured them from the Noxeus?

If he found a cure to this deadly plague, he should have shared it with other Alchemists to spread its production as widely as possible; that was, if he actually wanted to help as many people as possible.

Stop, I told myself. I should have learned from earlier today, when I doubted Jay’s story to not be so cynical despite what I went through in the Free Lands. Because what Jay said was true: his orphanage was in debt, and his caretaker was dying. That was why I came here—

A cheer came from the children gathered around the Plague Doctor.

Yes, I came here to help—

"Thank you, Plague Doctor! You saved us!"

The reason I—

"It’s thanks to you, Ms Hannah, that I even could help you in the first place."

I…was... that—

What was the point of me coming here again?! I did absolutely nothing!

I threw my hands up in the air, and stormed back to my inn.

I didn’t even get any snacks. What a complete waste of my time!

Chapter 6: The Orphanage

There really was no logical reasoning behind it: trying to help someone you were unlikely to meet ever again did not offer anything beneficial— at least, not anything that would justify going out of your way to help them.

In most cases, the most you would get back was gratitude; very rarely would assisting a complete stranger result in receiving the kind of great reward you’d read about in stories. Even then, considering the time spent on helping all those people without getting anything in return, the cost-benefit ratio was quite clearly not worth it. If you wanted to get something for doing a good deed, you might as well have bought a lottery ticket and hoped you won that instead.

However, that was taking into account only the material factor— a tangible reward that could be used in everyday life. It was necessary to also take into account what sort of mental or psychological effect helping others would have on you; the dopamine release that you would experience from knowing you played a part in changing someone’s life— now that was arguably worth it.

In conclusion, you should always help those in need, for not only did you stand to possibly gain some sort of physical remuneration for your efforts, you were guaranteed to feel good about yourself after doing so.

…

Except that’s not true at all!

No one ever told me that you could put in your time and effort into helping someone, only to not actually be the one to solve their problem. Well, it was probably a given, hence why it was left unsaid, but knowing it and actually experiencing it were two completely different things!

I mean, sure, I felt relieved knowing that the people in the orphanage were not in trouble anymore. But come on, there was literally no reason for my presence at all; whether or not I went there would not have changed a single thing. And that particularly bothered me, because it made me feel useless.

I knew I should not have felt that way, and that it was probably a result from my own sense of helplessness when I was unable to do anything as a slave. But it was a feeling I disliked and wanted to go away nonetheless. Which was why—

"Are you sure you can't tell me anything else?" I asked, not too abrasively, but in a manner that emphasized the importance of the question.

"I, uh—" The man hesitated. Then he shook his head, earning a sigh from me in return. "I’m sorry, Missy. I don’t keep up much about the orphanage. But the guys they borrowed from— those assholes— are known to be scummy in the way they deal with things. Everyone knows to stay away from them unless you’re really desperate."

"I see," I said nodding, but slightly dejected. That was nothing I did not already know; I had gleaned that information from the first few people I questioned several hours back. "Thank you for your time, regardless."

I bowed my head slightly and took my leave. I exited the tavern— not the inn I was staying at, but a random tavern that looked rather full— and continued down the street. I paid careful attention for any individuals that might seem open to having a conversation. I was trying to learn as much as I could about those debt collectors I saw yesterday. The ones that harassed the orphanage for money, before promptly getting dispatched by the Plague Doctor.

Despite being the one to throw the first punch, the Plague Doctor did not get arrested when the town guards showed up, and the six thugs— minus the last guy who fled— were taken away. As mentioned by the man earlier, they had a reputation of being troublemakers and even lawbreakers— and it was not just in this town, but in the surrounding areas as well.

They were a gang, and although they were not incredibly large, most people who lived here knew about them.

The Lord of the land however, had never bothered to send anyone to deal with them, due to how minor of an issue it was in the broader scope of things; and since this town along with its neighbors were located in the periphery of his domain, it would not have been worth the cost to deal with the problem even if he wanted to. Not to every noble, anyways; noblesse oblige was not an ubiquitous trait.

But that was pretty much all the relevant bits of information I managed to gather from going around and asking random people off the streets, or in taverns and inns: places where people should have known stuff like that. I had hoped that I would have found out more, but not only were criminals criminals for a reason— in that they would have at least a semblance of subtlety when it came to doing illegal things— people were also not extremely liberal in telling what they knew about it to a literal kid.

So, as I thanked the older man handling the stall and headed off, I heaved a sigh. It was not that he refused to tell me anything; it was quite the opposite, in fact— he was rather chatty, even going as far as to talk about himself for extended periods of time, in addition to what he knew about those debt collectors. But despite being much more helpful than the previous guy I asked, it was nothing I did not already know from speaking with the town guards.

Since they frequented the town to find potential victims to extort, or possibly— but rarely— kidnap, I could have tailed a member of their group to their base of operations wherever it might have been. But that was only if I knew what they looked like: other than the one guy who got away, I could not have identified with any sort of certainty whether a random person walking by was one of them.

As such, there was not much I could do. There was only one thing left I could have done, and I was not too excited about it.

Return to the orphanage.

That was the only place I could possibly get proper information from, considering the caretaker— Ms Sharity— dealt directly with this gang, and would know more than anyone I picked off the street. But…

It’ll be so awkward!

Just waltzing in and interrogating them about a persistent negative experience they have had right after they found a moment of relief the day before was bad enough by itself. But I had to do so after pretty much being an unnecessary third party during the entire ordeal. That made it all the more embarrassing!

I was certain that this was a me problem, and that they would not have thought twice about it. Since I spent most of my time with Jay, they already thought I was a friend he brought over to hang out with. But unless I went there with him, it would be pretty weird to come in and asking weird questions. So the first thing I had to do was find Jay—

"Hey, watch it!"

Speak of the Devil...

"You watch it!" I retorted, as the boy steadied himself after nearly running me over from behind. "This is the second time you’ve bumped into me like this. If you took something from me again just return it now, before I chase you down an alley and take it back by myself."

Jay scowled. "I didn’t do anything this time, alright? I was in a hurry and was trying to get around you, but you were the one blocking me while wandering around aimlessly with a hand up on your chin."

"Sure," I said. "But if I find anything missing—"

"I know, I know," he interrupted me. "You said that already, ok? But I’m in a rush, so if you’ll excuse me—"

He began to walk away, but I reached out to him and grabbed him by the arm. "Hey, wait!"

The boy halted midstep, mostly because I was holding him from running off. He whirled around and tried to pry my hand off to no avail. "What’s wrong with you? What are you doing?"

"I need your help—" I started, then stopped when I caught a glimpse of his hand. It was bandaged over, with some dried blood visible through the cloth on some of the fingers. "What happened to your hand?" I asked, letting go of him.

Jay stepped back, grasping his arm as if he was worried that I was going to try and pluck it off his sides. "It’s none of ya business."

Folding my arms, I frowned as he looked like he was about to run off again. "You’re hurt," I stated the obvious. A dark thought crossed my mind, making me voice my concerns. "And you didn’t have that just yesterday evening. If someone in the orphanage is doing this to you, you should not just keep quiet about it."

"What are you saying?" Jay narrowed his eyes, slowly realizing what I had implied. "Are you trying to say— Ms Sharity would never hurt me!"

"I wasn’t talking about her." At least, not just her; from what I had seen at the orphanage, it was quite clear that Jay was more of an outsider within the family dynamic. "Eaton, Hannah, or anyone else there. You can tell me." I spoke reassuringly.

The boy snapped back. "Nobody in the orphanage would hurt me! In fact, you’re the only person I know who would want to do that."

"Then who did that?" I asked, gesturing at the bandages while ignoring his provocation.

"I—" Jay paused. He glanced back for a moment, before finally responding to my question. "I did it to myself. And before you ask— no, I didn't do it on purpose."

I felt my worries wash away, and relaxed a bit. "How did that happen then?" I asked a follow up question, more curious than anything.

"I was helping fix a toy. It’s this Dwarven made doll— they call it a stuffed animal. I’m not used to sewing something that’s not just… flat y’know?"— he made the vague shape of a square-like object with his hands— "so I poked myself a lot by accident last night. I’m not rich like you, I can’t just buy a healing potion. So since it’s nothing bad, I just wrapped it up with a piece of cloth."

Right, and you haven’t changed it for a new one. I filled in the missing blanks myself; he was being unhygienic— which was something you did not want to do during a plague outbreak— but it was not like he knew any better. I decided not to lecture him on the importance of proper sanitation, since he was already annoyed at me.

"I didn’t know you could sew. Was it the little girl’s toy you fixed?"

"Obviously," he replied impatiently. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets now, and I could see him tapping his foot on the ground.

I tried to redirect the conversation back to the orphanage. "That’s really nice of you. You’re such a good brother," I said, smiling.

Jay’s ducked his head, obscuring the pinkish hue that came over his face from being complimented. "I, uh… t-thanks?" He said, uncertainly scratching the back of his head now. "I mean— sewing isn’t really difficult. I’ve mostly just fixed torn clothes to help Ms Sharity. But I’ve made a few things too."

"Wow. And you picked up sewing to help your mother?"

"Well, yeah. She’s always so stressed with so many of us to look after. So I thought if I could help her in some way, why not just do it. Even if it’s girlish, it’s not like it matters."

"That’s so sweet," I sincerely said. "You must really love her, huh?"

"Of course. And it’s not like I hate sewing. I do enjoy doing it a little bit…"

"Well, I don’t think it makes you any less of a man for it. And you said you’ve made actual clothes and stuff?"

"Thanks…" Jay’ hesitated. But when he realized I was being genuine, he nodded. "Yeah, I’ve made quite— a few."

That was obviously a lie; there was no doubt in my mind that he made more than just ‘a few’.

"I’d love to see some of it, if you don’t mind. It’s at the orphanage, right?"

"Y-yeah," the boy answered after a moment.

"Then let’s go on over right now!" I took a step towards him, but he backed up. "What’s wrong?" I asked, leaning in closer.

"No, I—" His head snapped away from me, and he took several steps back. "I-it’s not anything you’d want to see. It’s not very good, ok? And didn’t I tell you I was busy? I can’t just bring you anywhere you want!"

"That’s not what I—"

He cut me off.

"I’m busy, ok? If you want to see it, why not just go see it! I don’t have to be there for that. I need to go. Goodbye."

Jay dashed off before I could say anything in return. Well, there goes that.

I wanted to chase after him, but this was not something that warranted such drastic actions. And more than that— he was right: I could very easily just go to the orphanage by myself, since most of them would recognize me as his friend from yesterday. The thing is—

"I don’t want to..." I murmured quietly to myself.

I went there anyways.

"Thank you for taking time out of your day to show me this, Ms Sharity."

"Oh, it’s no problem at all. Jay doesn’t like letting the others touch his stuff, but since you’re his friend, I had to let you see it."

The middle aged woman pulled out a handkerchief, embroidered with the sun at its center, complemented by cross-stitched patterns around its edges.That was the most complex design I had seen so far; most of the others she had shown me were regular plain shirts and pants Jay made for his siblings.

But those were all rather simple designs made to conserve as much cloth as possible. This however, was one of Jay’s own personal crafts.

Other than the handkerchief, there were only a handful other items he made for himself. All of them were about the same size too— no clothes, and no accessories. Just small, simple items, which all had detailed patterns sewn into it. Once again, probably to not waste too much material over a hobby.

I pulled open a wardrobe, and stared at the objects lying inside it.

Next to the unused embroidery hoop was a small, black hat. About half the size of my palm. It was unfinished, and I couldn't clearly tell that was what kind of hat it was supposed to be. If I had to guess, I would say it was a top hat.

"Oh, so that’s what he was working on last night. I was wondering why he stayed up so late."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what this is?"

"Indeed," Ms Sharity said, beaming. "It’s the Plague Doctor’s hat."

Blinking, I looked back down at the small hat. It really did not look like a miniscule version of the wide brimmed hat the Plague Doctor wore. Maybe that was because it was still unfinished, but I doubted it. The proportions were all off!

"That boy. He’s so considerate, really. Even though he always acts like he doesn’t care." The woman shook her head, placing her hands on her hip.

"Is he making this for someone?" I asked. It was too small to fit on anyone but a baby’s head— and even then it would barely fit.

"Yes." She nodded her head. "It’s for Mister Will."

My blank stare needed no words to accompany it as Ms Sharity quickly began to elaborate.

"Mister Will is the mole Callie brings with her wherever she goes. The stuffed animal. It was one of the donations we got back when our orphanage still was… well, it’s nothing you should worry about. But she brings him around almost everywhere she goes, and doesn’t like sharing him with anyone."

I was just going to assume Callie was the crying girl I saw when I first arrived in the orphanage house. "And she wanted to give Mister Will the same hat as the Plague Doctor?" I wagered another guess.

"Well, no. You see, Callie never likes sharing Mister Will with anyone. But after Patty got sick, she must’ve been so worried, she’s now sharing him with her. And after the Plague Doctor cured us— praise Her light, I still don’t know how he did that— Patty wanted the hat that he wore. However, we can’t really afford it, so she’s been down since last night."

Hasn’t it only been a day since she met the Plague Doctor? I would have assumed she would be more grateful that she was alive. But she did look like she was barely even two years old. So maybe her priorities were vastly different than mine.

Whatever it was, I did not even need to fill in the blanks this time; although Ms Sharity still felt the need to explain it to me. "Since we couldn’t get a real one, Jay must have figured that this was the next best thing."

"He’s such a kind boy," I remarked.

"He really is."

There was a moment of silence as the woman stared deeply into the tiny, incomplete hat; I could tell that she loved her children very much. The moment ended when a girl opened the door to the room.

"Hey Ms Sharity, have you seen Jay?" Hannah— the girl who found the Plague Doctor— poked her head in.

"He said he was buying some materials he needed for sewing," Ms Sharity replied. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"He should have been back by now." The girl frowned. "He better not have gotten into trouble. I’ll go find him."

"You be safe too, ok?" The middle aged woman called out, as Hannah left. She turned back to me, and smiled in assurance. "I’m sure he’s fine. Don’t worry."

"Mhm." I made a noise in acknowledgement.

Then I decided to ask a question that had been on my mind for a while.

"Ms Sharity, can I ask why does everyone call you that and not, well, ‘mom’? You treat them like they’re your own children, and they clearly think of you as their mother. So why the formality?"

Apparently that was not the best question to ask, as the woman’s demeanour immediately became apprehensive.

"It might not be something you’d enjoy talking about, Melas. It might be… boring to hear."

"I’m fine as long as you’re comfortable with it."

I knew that ‘boring’ did not actually mean boring, and that it was a code word adults used to get kids to talk about something else. I was not a kid though, so it did not work on me.

Ms Sharity chewed on her lip, considering what I said. Before finally speaking. "It’s from back when we were more well funded. When there was an actual director managing the orphanage, and I was just a helper."

"What happened?" I asked, seeing the direction where the conversation was going.

"It was nothing that could have been prevented. People simply… stopped donating as much. The director quit their job as a result, but I couldn’t just leave all these children alone. Well, back then, Eaton was the youngest one here— he’s really grown so much." The woman sighed wistfully, before shaking her head. "The children would always refer to the director with respect. Like he was their teacher. So when I became the director of the orphanage, they were just too used to what they were taught, they couldn’t call me anything else. So when I brought the younger children in— Jay, Hannah, and the others— the title stuck, and I couldn’t get them to call me anything else. But I know that they call me by my name with as much affection as any child would call their mother ‘mother’."

"I see."

It was another moment. One where Ms Sharity slowly put Jay’s things back where they belonged, taking in each item as she carefully placed them into the cupboards. Of course, I let the moment run its course; I did not want to interrupt it.

However, it was using the end of this moment that gave me the perfect segue— a transition to the real reason why I came here in the first place. Not that I did not care about Jay’s sewing or the orphanage. Most of my questions came naturally because I was actually interested in it. However, this was far more important than either of those.

Finally, she stopped, and I spoke.

"The… donations," I started.

"Pardon?"

"You said there was a lack of funding. Fewer donations. Did that have anything to do with those bad guys from yesterday?" I asked bluntly, since I was sick and tired of being subtle.

"The bad guys from— the debt collectors?" Ms Sharity exclaimed.

"I was just curious. I did not know what was going on when I came over yesterday, and Jay wouldn’t tell me either. I… they were scary. I don't want anything bad to happen to Jay…"

Although I was worried for him, I was more worried about the orphanage in general. But I did not say that.

"There’s no need to worry, Melas." The woman lowered herself to meet my gaze. "The Plague Doctor took care of them. You saw how amazing he was, right?"

"Yes, but what if they come back! The Plague Doctor won’t be here forever. What if there are more of those bad guys? I’m… why did they even come here? Why did this have to happen..." I trailed off.

Technically, I was telling the truth here: I did want to know the answer to these questions. I could tell Ms Sharity was reluctant to answer, but I gave my best puppy dog eyes and lied straight out of my teeth.

"I’m just so worried. I couldn’t sleep last night because of them. What— what if they come after me too? I’m so scared..."

Ms Sharity finally gave in. She pulled me into a hug, and began whispering. "It’s ok, it’s ok. They won’t come after you, or Jay. They’re bad people, but… they’re only after me. Because I made a mistake."

"But you’re such a good person, you don’t deserve this! Why would they do that— be so cruel— to you?" I asked, digging for information.

Her voice came out trembling. "I... needed the money. To keep everyone safe. So I went to some bad people. I thought as long as I paid them back on time, it would all be fine. But it wasn’t. They kept increasing what I owed them and threatened to take my children or this house away if I couldn’t pay them back. But I couldn’t let that happen, so I offered myself."

So she used herself as a guarantee for the loan, because she obviously could not let them take the kids away, and they needed a home to live in. It made sense, and it more than confirmed that these people were slavers— or at least, traded with slavers. We were in the border with the Free Lands after all.

"And where were they going to take you?"

"I’m not sure," Ms Sharity said, voice heavy, "but I think they would have brought me to... work for them."

I picked up on her implications, and decided not to address it. She was most likely only half right, anyways. So I played dumb, asking the question I needed the answer to. "Work where?"

"I’ve only ever been there once, when I first signed the contract with them. They brought me to this building far outside from town— about halfway to the next town over."

"Where is it? I need to know, so I can tell my father to avoid that road." I quickly brought up my cover story I made up earlier to justify why I had to know about it; I told her my parents were traveling merchants, and I was just visiting this town for a while and that we would be leaving soon.

"We took a wagon there and went off road at an intersection. However I think it was— no, it had to be more than ten miles from here. We took the western road there, and maybe went up north towards the end? I did not pay too much attention back then." Ms Sharity shook her head. "I know it’s a bit of a detour since you said you'll be going to the Capital, but you’ll be fine as long as you tell your father to take the south road first."

"I see," I said, content with finally getting some information.

It was not much, but I had to make do with it, as I was positive I was not going to get more. Maybe if I visited other towns and asked them about it, they would be able to provide something concrete.

This was enough for now though, so I bowed my head slightly. "Thank you, Ms Sharity. I feel much better thanks to you."

"I’m glad you do, Melas. I didn’t mean to bring you down while you were visiting."

"You didn’t. I’m really grateful for what you told me. And I was the one who mentioned it in the first place."

"No, no." Ms Sharity refuted. "But that’s enough talking about difficult things. Come, why don’t you stay for a bit until Jay comes back? I have some snacks— cookies, biscuits— prepared."

I was about to take my leave, but my ears perked up. Snacks? Don’t mind if I do!

"Well, if you insist. I’ll stay for a bit and try one or two."

It was rude to turn down an invitation from others. I truly could not help it. That just basic etiquette, and my mom did not raise a rude daughter. I was trapped. So I really had no choice but to accept and eat a bunch of food.

"It was really delicious, Ms Sharity," I said, licking my lips to get any crumbs that were left.

"Oh, you’re such a polite girl, Melas. If you want more, you can come visit anytime."

I nodded, and made way for the door; another hour had passed, and I had things to do. If I was being honest, although I had no other obligations, I wanted to leave this town soon.

I had planned to go after collecting my Witch’s hat tomorrow, which may or may not happen depending on what I found at the gang’s hideout. And since it was already evening, I wanted to check out their base now. But before I could leave, the door flew open, and a boy ran in.

It was Jay. And his clothes were torn and tattered, and he was panting heavily.

Well, the former was not typically unusual, but it quite clearly had more rips on it than before. And as for the latter…

He was bruised all over.

"Jay, are you ok?"

Ms Sharity and Eaton both ran up to him at the same time. The boy was still catching his breath, but he immediately glanced up and spoke hurriedly.

"Hannah— they took Hannah!"

"What?" Ms Sharity stared with her mouth open, completely aghast. "Who did? What happened?"

"A group of thugs. They came out of nowhere and attacked us when we were going back." He babbled an explanation.

Eaton snapped. "Why? What did you do?"

"I didn’t do anything!" Jay protested, tears forming in his eyes. "I didn’t do anything. We were just walking! I— I didn’t even do anything wrong today. I was just trying to improve my sewing— find someone to teach me— and Hannah got mad at me for being out so late. But then they show up and now you’re mad at me as well! I really don't know what's going on. I didn't do anything!"

"Calm down, Eaton. This is not Jay’s fault."

The teenage boy clamped his mouth shut, and muttered an apology. "I… sorry."

"I didn’t want her to get taken, but I couldn’t do anything but run. I tried to fight— I tried…" he trailed off.

Ms Sharity wrapped her arms around him, despite looking incredibly worried too. But she nevertheless tried to comfort him. "It’s ok. Hannah is a strong girl. But we need to get the town guards. Before anything bad happens to her."

"I— I didn’t do anything wrong." Jay sniffled. "Who would do this? Why would they..."

"The guys from yesterday would," I stated simply. "They wouldn’t have given up after a single setback."

Everyone spun around to look at me.

"No way…"

It was shocking to them, but not to me. Unlike them, I was not personally invested in the situation, so I could think clearly at the moment; although they were in denial right until I said it outright, they probably knew the truth deep down even before I said a thing.

Multiple voices began speaking at once.

"We need to get the guards now, Eaton. Can you run over there?"

"They won’t be able to do anything. We need to get the Plague Doctor— he can help us!"

"Ms Sharity, big brother Eaton, what’s going?"

"What happened to Hannah? Where did she go?"

"Waaahhh—"

Someone was crying, and everybody was panicking. Ms Sharity tried to calm everyone down— to try and get things under control. But it was not working. Because no one knew what to do; they were lost, just as Jay was when he first came in.

But unlike them, he had time to process what happened. To fully understand it. So he turned to me, eyes still watered over, and he begged me.

"Please, can you do anything? Hannah— she’s my sister. I love her. If anything happens to her, I don’t know what to do with myself."

I took the boy’s hand and clasped it under my palms. I held his gaze, giving him the most kindly, gentle, and soothing smile, I could.

"Don’t worry," I promised, "I’ll bring her back no matter what."

And I meant every word of that sentence. Especially the last part.

Chapter 7: Kidnapping Thugs

It was midnight by the time I found their base. It was a warehouse a little ways away from the main road, but not too far off that it was invisible behind the trees. It poked out just enough for me to find it after an hour of searching. Once I did, I laid low, and began to investigate.

"Man, the boss was pissed at us when we could only get the girl. But I don’t understand, don’t we want the woman instead? She’d fetch us a better price right now."

"No, you idiot. With all the slave revolts in the Free Lands, nobody wants regular slaves anymore. Especially since Boleria banned slavery to avoid getting sacked, it’s only a matter of time before other cities follow suit. I even hear the Chalstics Confederacy is voting among their cities on whether they should do the same."

"So what’s the point of doing this? Wouldn’t it make both worthless? Y’know, the only people that would buy kids were from Besha, and most of their cities had been taken over by the slaves. It’s kind of funny, actually. They’re calling themselves the
Chained Lands—"

"Exactly. Without Besha, there’s nowhere else to get child slaves. But there has always been a market for it in the other parts of the Free Lands, and they will take whatever they can get even if they have to pay more."

"But isn’t that illegal? I thought only Besha allowed that."

"Everything we’re doing is illegal, you dimwit. Did that weird bird man hit you that hard on the head yesterday?"

"He’s the Plague Doctor.”
And no, I told you, he didn’t touch me."

"Because you ran away like a coward."

"I think you’re being very rude to me right now—"

...aaaand investigation done. There was no reason for me to listen any longer. They said it outright: they were selling slaves.

And other illegal activities, I presumed. But I had no evidence for any of that; not like evidence mattered, since I was not some sort of detective.

I was just going to go in, grab Hannah, and get out. That was Plan A, at least. The
ideal plan where I did not have to get my hands dirty, letting the guards take care of this gang after I report it to them.

Of course, a lot of things could go wrong with that plan— from the guards not wanting to arrest them, or from me getting killed— which was why I had a Plan B, Plan C, Plan D…

Each plan was tailored to the different possible scenarios where something went wrong; not that I hoped anything would go wrong, I just had to be cautious. I had backup plans for those too, but it was not as
detailed as my first set of contingencies. Not that any of these plans were more than vague outlines of what I was going to do.

My final plan— Plan Z— was my last resort. And that involved me running away and pretending to forget everything that happened here. Maybe even knocking myself in the head a few times to get amnesia so I would have a clear conscience.

But as of right now, the plan was to just sneak in. So I stealthily made my way around the trees, to the side of the building, trying to keep out of view of the two lookouts out front.

The warehouse was not as massive as anything like Fort Conon— which was almost a mini castle. But it was still a large building that could easily hold a hundred people in it without crowding over.

Not that I expected there to be that
many people inside; I assumed some of the rooms were for sleeping, others for storage, a kitchen, and things like that. So its size only played into my favor, since it would make sneaking in easier—

"Hey, what was that?"

Well, fu— I mean frick.

I remained as still as I could, hoping not to rustle the bushes anymore than I already did. I was not extremely
bad at sneaking, but I was not good at it either. Very few situations warranted it, although I still remembered some of the lessons Karna had given me about it.

I hoped the two men would go away, thinking it was the wind or something. But as my luck would have it, they did not.

They edged closer slowly, drawing their weapons as they did. One of them had a pistol, while the other only had a sword at his side; I could not care less about the former, but the gun actually posed a problem if he fired a shot right now before I even did anything.

Time for Plan D.

I stood up, and raised both hands. I lowered my hood— I was wearing my previous outfit which was suited for sneaking and not my bright purple day clothes— and called out.

"Stop! Don’t shoot!"

The two men tensed, raising their weapons. I was prepared to dodge out of the way in case he still shot anyways. But the man with the sword breathed a sigh of relief.

"What? It’s just a little girl. You got me all worried for nothing." He sheathed his sword, and made a shooing gesture. "Go away, girl. Play somewhere else."

"Why would a child be out here in the middle of night to play?
You’re an idiot," the other man retorted, still keeping his pistol out, but no longer tense at the situation.

"I dunno, maybe she got lost?"

"Why would she be—" The man with the gun’s eyes lit up, and he lowered his weapon. He turned to me and put a hand out. "Ah, are you lost, little girl? My companion here seems to think so. But it’s dangerous out there. We can bring you inside to stay for the night."

"What are you doing?" The first man asked, confused.

"Be quiet. I’m just trying not to scare her off and bring her to safety,"the other man explained, not-so-subtly.

"Wh—"
A flash of recognition finally came across the man with the sword’s face. He then nodded hurriedly, and approached me too.

"Come on, little girl. It’s dark out, and there are animals and Monsters that are super scary in this woods. If you come with us, we can protect you."

I took a step back. "What if I don’t want to?"

"What? Why wouldn’t you want to— listen, we’re trying to help you. Just come with us and—" The man with the gun tried grabbing my arm, but I backed up more. His brows snapped together, and he reached for me with both hands. "
I said come here—"

I sliced his arm off.

Or at least, I tried to. The dark gray dagger was sharp, but not enough to easily sever a moving limb. Instead a huge gash appeared on his gun arm, causing him to drop the weapon.

"What…?" The man with the sword stared on in utter confusion as his partner clutched his arm, screaming.

"Ahhhh—"

That was all he got out before I plunged my blade onto his chest. He doubled over, opening his mouth to scream some more, but I quickly silenced with a final swing.

It was only at that moment, did the man with the sword react.

"You bitch!"

He pulled out his weapon and charged me.

I kept my distance from him for a moment, right until he swung at me. It went wide. He overextended trying to hit me as I leaned back. Then I stepped into his guard, and
stabbed.

The blade nicked some flesh. Blood dripped off the tip of my dagger, but the man managed to dodge in time. He brought his sword down at me again, and this time, I could not get away from it in time.

I brought my dagger up and parried the strike. But he did not let up. I continued deflecting flurry of attacks as I tried to get out of his reach. He was incessant. He swung wildly as I took another step back, barely moving my head out of the way from the tip of his blade.

I took that as an opening to close the distance and strike back. The man raised his sword to block my attack, but it never came. It was a feint.
A false attack.

I moved laterally around him, finding his back. He whirled around, swinging as he did, and I ducked under it. I moved closer once again as if I was going to stab him. He was about to dodge again—

When I kicked him in the balls.

The man did not immediately crumple over, incapacitiated. Rather, he simply staggered for a moment, but otherwise bore the brunt of the hit. However that moment was all I needed.

I jabbed my dagger straight into the man grabbing his sword hand as he tried for a counter. It plunged into his stomach, and he screamed. The man only managed to struggle for a second, before I finished him off by slicing up.

The jagged edge of my blade left a huge opening, and blood gushed out. I felt the man’s arm go limp, as his sword clattered on the ground.

He was dead.

I finally let go of him, as blood continued to pool up on the dirt floor. I glanced between the two dead bodies and flicked the blood off my dagger. I let out a sigh.

I did not feel the need to throw up. It was not like the situation with Victor at all— I didn't even know these people. I had seen plenty of people die even before I killed my former friend. And although I still found it disgusting, I had lost the urge to vomit from seeing it even before then.

But I killed them.

There was nothing else to note; the deed had been done, and if it was my second or third time doing it, maybe my heart would have continued racing for a while longer. But the Free Lands was not a kind place; traversing through it alone as a kid attracted a lot of unwanted attention which sometimes turned deadly. So after a minute, the adrenaline stopped pumping, and I was calm again.

I kept my dagger out as I made my way to the warehouse. I was wary of making too much noise, since I was not sure if anyone was even awake other than these guards. And if everyone was asleep, I was hoping they did not wake up due to the sounds of fighting. Because maybe then I’d be able to go back to Plan A— the original sneaky plan.

I did not like Plan D; if anything, I would have liked to avoid Plan D as much as possible. Unfortunately, I knew from firsthand experience that things never went the way I wanted it to. And it did not. I heard footsteps coming from just behind the front door, and tensed up immediately.

Plan D it is.

The plan for if I screwed up immediately. Plan ‘Destroy everything with magic and leave no one alive’.
Plan ‘I Don’t want to do this, but I have no other choice’.

Or some other stupid name like that; it was just the fourth plan I came up with— accounting for the fact that I could not fight an entire gang of thugs with just my dagger alone, I made this plan.

I raised a hand, and felt the magic gathering around it. The spell circle was just about to form as the door swung open.

"Hey what’s—"

There was a loud crackle, followed by a flash coming from behind me The man on the other side of the door did not even have time to react. A beam of light went straight through his brain, and he dropped dead.

Ears still ringing, I spun around to see where the shot came from.

A figure stood amongst the trees, his black clothes blending in with the darkness. But even though I could not see his face, I knew who it was.

The Plague Doctor.

He lowered a rather ornate looking revolver, and quirked his head to the side.

"Need some help?"

I warily backed up as the Plague Doctor approached me.
"There’s no need to be so tense," he said, raising an arm placatingly, "I’m here to help."

"And how would I know that? How do you even know what I’m here for?"

I was not sure if that was the correct response; I might have been paranoid instead of simply acting cautious, but I asked the question anyways. I was not sure if he saw anything, but if he even saw the slightest sliver of my magic, I could not trust him.

"Well, that is a difficult question." The Plague Doctor took a step forward. The pale silver moonlight illuminating his mask and revealing its birdlike features. Its long beak swayed from side to side as he shook his head. "Perhaps it was bold of me to assume, but I recalled your presence at the orphanage. I presumed we were both here to return Ms Hannah to her home, by force if necessary."

I had expected something like that: either Ms Sharity or Eaton would have sought him out after what he did for them the other day.
However
…

"So you saw a little child and thought she was here to fight a gang of thugs?"

"That is a rather poor way of putting it," the Plague Doctor remarked. "What I saw was a girl carrying a bloodied weapon, while standing over the bodies of two dead men, and that was what I based my inference off of. Although technically speaking, you are correct: I can only guess as to why you’re here."

"And this is completely normal to you?" I asked, raising a brow.

"It does seem a little odd. However, I have seen stranger sights during my time."

His answers made it quite clear he knew something was up. Which, somehow, made me more relaxed than anything; I would have been all the more leery of him if he pretended he did not suspect a thing. I finally decided to let my guard down by a little bit.

"I see," I said, nodding, "well I wouldn’t be against getting some help."

The less potential blood on my hands, the better. And he might even have had a better plan to rescue Hannah than me. Still facing the Plague Doctor, I carefully walked over to one of the bodies, and picked up the pistol from earlier.
Going to need this if I can’t use magic.

"So, what do you suggest we do?" I asked the question. "There’s probably dozens of thugs in there. Do we just sneak in and grab Hannah, or…?"

The Plague Doctor casually shrugged.

"If they did not already wake up from the sounds of you fighting, then they surely would have awoken when I arrived."

He waved his revolver in the air to indicate it. Then he lowered it with one hand as he brought his other hand up— still holding his signature cane— and slid a bullet into the chamber. With a click, he spun the barrel back into position and flourished it back into its holster.

"I don’t believe subtlety has been an option since."

"Thought so," I sighed. "Let’s just get this over with."

"Indeed," he concurred, raising his weapon and pointing it into the building.

A figure— no, several figures appeared behind the doorway; they were already armed and ready for combat. I whipped out my pistols and aimed at the first thug who was shouting and pointing at us. But before I could fire my weapon, the Plague Doctor finished his sentence.

"That we should, shouldn’t we?"

Then he fired his gun, and a blinding light flashed for a second. The yellow beam of light once again zipped straight at the thugs, accompanied by the thunderous cracking noise from the gunshot. Two thugs who were standing in front of each other fell, a gaping hole the size of a fist appeared on their chest, as the bullet continued past the both of them, burning itself through the wall in the back.

I flinched at the sound for a moment— but I collected myself soon enough and immediately ran for cover. The other thugs were also momentarily stunned by the powerful attack, but just like me, they immediately sprung to action.

"It’s that Plague Doctor!"

"Kill those bastards—"

The Plague Doctor fired another shot, silencing one of the thugs as they began firing back. He skipped to the side. Twirled out of the way from the gunfire. Raising his cane to block one shot that almost nicked his side. Then stopped at the other side of the door from me, behind cover.

He was graceful. Like a figure skater in the rink. Not every one of the thugs had a gun— in fact, there were just over a dozen of them currently in the room, and less than half had a long-ranged weapon. But in spite of that, I was entranced by the Plague Doctor’s movements.

I had seen Karna zig zag his way out of a hail of bullets and arrows. I had also seen Victor escape from hundreds of guards coming at him all at once. But the elegance of the Plague Doctor still stood out to me.

Well, it stood out to me as much as it could at this moment.

I poked my head out of cover and fired two shots into the room. My first shot just barely missed a moving target, while the second struck a thug on the stomach. He was wounded, but still standing. He raised his rifle and fired multiple shots back as I ducked back behind the wall.

"That’s quite the number of them, isn’t it?" the Plague Doctor remarked as a bullet barely whizzed by my head; he sent another shot into the room, and a thug fell dead.

Following his lead, I fired several more shots into the room without looking, then peeked out to fire three more. A bullet struck a man on the leg, bringing him to his knees, before another buried itself into his chest.

He collapsed to the ground. Not dead, per se. But I was certain he was bleeding out.

"Good shot, you must have had quite a lot of practice with that weapon, haven’t you?"
"Thanks," I said, wincing as a bolt of energy barely grazed my shoulder. I grasped the light wound, and looked at my bloodied palm. "But could we maybe do the talking later? I’m not a big fan of dying, and I think that’s looking like a real possibility right now."

"Of course." The Plague Doctor nodded his beak-like mask. He nonchalantly began inserting bullet shells into his revolver as the thugs edged closer to the door.

I hugged my back against the wall, giving him a sidelong glance "Don’t you have six bullets in that or something?"

"Close. But I can have up to eight shots in it."
"So why do you have to keep doing that?" I nearly shouted.
"Because," he said, getting up and reaching into his coat, "I need all of the bullets in the chamber to do this."

The Plague Doctor held two vials out in a single hand. One with a sloshing orange liquid, and the other with… something gray inside of it? He took the first one— the vial with the orange liquid— and hurled it into the middle of a group of thugs approaching us with their swords and axes. The glass bottle cracked upon landing on the ground—
And it explode.
Not like some sort of molotov cocktail bursting into flames. And not like a grenade that sends out a small dusty shockwave along with shrapnels. But like a mini explosion— the kinds that came from real bombs, but just downsized into a radius of several feet.

My eyes widened and the ground shook as the group of thugs were flung across the room like ragdolls. Their bodies were already burnt, and they fell dead or half dead on the ground. The other thugs were also in shock, and in that moment, the Plague Doctor uncorked his second vial and rolled it into the room.

A plume of gray smoke began pouring out of the small bottle. It came out fast; as if it was being funneled through a much bigger opening than it actually was. The smoke obscured my vision, blocking the view of almost everything in the room. I fought off the urge to cough, covering my mouth from inhaling the gas. But the people inside—
indoors— were not so lucky.

I heard several people immediately start coughing due to the smoke, and the gunshots stopped coming. I tried to seize the opportunity to start firing back, but I could barely even make out anything through the haze.

"Step back, young Miss," the Plague Doctor said, walking up beside me. "You won’t be able to see past the smoke."

He hefted his gun up, and put a foot through the door. I looked at him inquisitively.

"And you can?"

"This smoke was designed to obscure vision to the naked eye. But with a certain lens,"— he tapped his gloved finger onto the glass opening on his mask— "it would be like nothing was even there."

The Plague Doctor fired a shot. The bullet parted the smoke where it went. The gray gas flashing yellow for a moment. The gunshot ringing my ears. But in that brief opening, I saw a figure collapse in the distance.

Then the Plague Doctor took more steps forward, entering the room fully. He flicked his hand to another target— one that I could not see— and pulled the trigger. Again, the same thing happened. A moment of intense light. A small hole forming in the haze. And a thug dropping dead.

Again, the Plague Doctor fired. And again, another man died.

He pirouetted around, looking across the room, firing bullet after bullet. People fell everywhere he aimed. Like a sharpshooter, he never missed his targets.

He fired another shot, and the same thing happened. But this time, instead of a person on the other side, I saw a box.

It took me a second to register what happened. First, the bullet burrowed through the wooden crate, splintering bits of wood all over the ground. Then blood splattered all over the wall beyond the box, as I heard a shout.

He shot through their cover!

Another three shots rang out. The smoke was mostly cleared at that point, having stopped pouring out of the vial, and being dispersed by the powerful gunshots. All that was left were the sounds of the clinks of bullet shells bouncing on the ground, and a… groan?

I turned to the direction of the noise; a man laid bloodied against the wall. He was shot through the stomach but he was still alive. The only one left alive, for that matter.

The Plague Doctor sauntered over to the man feebly clutching himself where his stomach used to be. The Plague Doctor bent over, pulling something from under his coat as he did.

"Do you want this?" he asked, dangling a glowing healing potion in front of the man.

"Urk…"

The man could not form any words. He was gasping for breath and barely alive. But he managed to gather enough strength to nod his head slowly.

"Good."

The Plague Doctor emptied a quarter of the healing potion over the man. He sat up, inhaling a sharp breath—

Then began coughing in pain.

"Most of your wound has healed. Enough for you to survive. Now if you promise to leave and find a proper job, and tell me where the girl is, I will let you live."

"I— she’s upstairs! In the second room to the right of the stairs!" the man quickly sputtered out.

"Very good," the Plague Doctor said, satisfied. "And how many more of you are there in this building?"
"We’re not very big of a gang— I only joined when the country continued raising its taxes even after I lost my job! There’s only a dozen more of us in there. Two dozen maybe. I… I don’t know! Please let me go!" he pleaded desperately.

"I will. That was part of our agreement, was it not?"

"Thank you, oh thank you!"
the man exclaimed. He pulled himself to his feet and after a moment's hesitation, made his way out of the door. "I promise I’ll be good! I promise I won’t do this anymore—"

The man collapsed as the Plague Doctor struck him on the back of his head. He fell, unconscious. But still alive.

"What was that for?" I asked, inclining my head to the side. "You’re not going to let him go?"

"I am. Just not this instant."

"Why not?"

"Because I don’t know if he’s telling the truth," the Plague Doctor answered. He gestured at the unconscious man, then towards the outside. "For all we know, Ms Hannah might not even be here right now. They could have taken her somewhere else."
"I see," I said, realizing what the Plague Doctor meant. A memory flashed in my head, and I added in to his point. "And the gang might actually be big, right? He might have gone to get more gang members if he was lying. Ambush us as we’re about to leave or something."

"That’d be the worst case scenario. So it’d be safer to just leave him here, for now."

That made sense to me. I eyed the quickly dissipating gas and the small crater where the first vial exploded. "So, you’re an Alchemist?"

The Plague Doctor reloaded his weapon as he answered.

"I am."

"I see," I said, casting a glance at a glowing vial hidden in his coat pocket. "Was that how you cured the Noxeus?"

The Plague Doctor paused. He was halfway sliding a bullet into his revolver, but stopped right as the tip entered the chamber. "Does it matter?" he asked, finishing the movement.

"Mhm?" I made a weird sound. "If you have a cure, or antidote, or whatever for it, why not share it? Don’t you want to help everyone you can?"

I was making an assumption based on the fact that he was a plague doctor who was apparently going around philanthropically helping everyone. Whether or not that's true— I did not know. But I was going to find out now.

"No comment."

Or not.

I closed and opened my eyes in rapid succession. "Huh?"

The Plague Doctor raised his shoulders and arms to the side. "I don’t feel like I would give you any answer that would leave you satisfied. It would be like if I asked you— a child— what you were doing out here trying to fight a gang of loan sharks and kidnappers. You would either give a vague response, or tell me an outright lie."

"What? I— I mean…" I trailed off.

I could not really deny that since he was telling the truth. Sighing, I stopped pressing him on the matter.
"Could you at least tell me your name? I’d think calling you ‘the Plague Doctor’ the entire time would get tiring after a while." I put a hand out, and smiled. "I’m Melas, it’s nice to meet you."

The Plague Doctor hesitated; he stared at my outstretched palm, scrutinizing it for a few moments. Then he slowly took it.

"I’m—"

The Plague Doctor
jerked,
and pulled me towards him. I lost my balance, almost falling to the floor.
"What?!"
I yelped.

There was a loud bang. A small blast came from the side—

But it did not reach me. My gaze flung up, as I saw the Plague Doctor holding up his cane: the mana crystal at its tip glowing, and a yellow domed barrier covering us.

The smoke from the explosion cleared up at the front of the barrier, and through the translucent shield, I could make two dozen figures standing down the hallway. At the very front of them was a gruff man holding a glowing blade in one hand, and a small round bomb in the other.

He grinned savagely.

"Since we’re doing introductions, I'll join in: I’m the boss around these parts, and you’re on
my
turf."

Then he threw the bomb, and it exploded.

Chapter 8: Secrets Exchanged

The bomb exploded on the shield’s surface, forming a small crack on it. Nothing significant. Not enough to destroy the barrier even if you threw a dozen more of those bombs at the same spot.

But the thugs were not stupid. They realized this, and began spreading out around us. I turned to the Plague Doctor, as a few bullets deflected harmlessly off the domed shield around us.

"Do you have any more of those smoke bombs?" I asked hurriedly.

"Unfortunately not," he said, his gaze sweeping over the thugs around the large room; some of them were positioning themselves behind the wooden crates, tables and chairs, and barrels scattered throughout the lobby area. But the bulk of them were still down the hallway ahead of us. "I have not had access to any alchemical ingredients in a while. And I was… not expecting to use up my stock here."

"So what do we do then? We’re surrounded!" I pointed out the obvious.

"Not completely." The Plague Doctor pointed at my behind with his cane, the mana crystal at its tip still glowing and keeping the barrier active. I saw two thugs barring the entrance— no, exit to the warehouse. "Ms Melas—"

"Just Melas is fine."

"Melas, then. If we make a break for the outside, we should be able to escape their encirclement and they’ll be forced to funnel through that doorway. We would be in a more advantageous position than we are now."

My eyes flickered to the side, as more gunshots, crossbow bolts, and another explosion impacted the barrier protecting us. The thugs were getting more impatient now, and were bolstered by the tiny spiderwebbed lines forming around the translucent shield. "Hurry up and come out, you bastards! We’ll teach you not to mess with us!" the thug boss yelled.

"And how are we supposed to do that?"

The Plague Doctor reached for his coat pocket, pulling out a bottle I vaguely recognized. "With this," he answered, sloshing the liquid inside of it. "Can you take on those two men?"

I looked at the two thugs blocking the exit. Both of them were holding melee weapons— a club and an axe. Neither had a long ranged weapon on them.

"Yes," I said with confidence.

"Good." The Plague Doctor nodded, then slowly lowered his cane. "On my mark, you run for it and don’t look back."

"I got it."

I held out my dagger in front of me, aiming my pistol at the man with the wooden club. I waited with bated breath for the signal—

"Mark."

And I dashed forward, firing multiple shots at the thug waiting for me. The barrier dissipated, and there was a flash of blinding light from behind me. But I stayed focused only on my targets. My vision blinded for only a moment. As if a powerful flash camera snapped a picture of me. But I could see again after a second.

The man I fired at was down on the ground, clutching at a few wounds on his body, while the other man was still grasping at his eyes. A flash of light followed by a loud bang echoed behind me, as the man looked up just in time to see me reach him.

He swung his axe at me. He missed. And I slashed at his legs, ducking under the swing. The man screamed, falling to his knees. Before I finished him off with a quick shot to the head.

It happened so fast. One moment I was ignoring the gunfire ringing off behind me as I finished off the second thug, the next I was outside catching my breath for a moment. The Plague Doctor followed immediately after, rapidly loading more bullets into his revolver.

"Don’t let up. There’s still dozens of them."

"Right," I said, aiming through the door and blasting a man holding a crossbow in the head. Bullets whizzed past me as I ducked back behind cover. "Got anything else up your sleeve?"

"Not unless you have something." The Plague Doctor fired off multiple shots as fast as I could even aim. "Do you?" he asked, stepping from his side of the door to next to me.

"I—" I bit my tongue. Is he trying to make me use magic? He suspected me of something— I did not know what he thought he knew, but he definitely knew something. I shook my head, exasperated. "This is not the time!"

"I know," he remarked casually as he fired another round. "That’s why I’m waiting for you. You have a secret, don’t you?"

I hesitated. Then a round object rolled at our feet. My eyes widened, and I reacted before I could even think. "Bomb—"

I rolled out of the way as it exploded at my behind; the shockwave scattered some dirt and rocks on me, knocking me back further. But otherwise, I was unharmed. I whirled around in a panic, trying to see what happened to the Plague Doctor. Why didn’t he move out of the way?

Only to have my question answered when I saw the domed barrier surrounded him.

Right, forgot about that.

I wanted to sigh in relief; I was glad the Plague Doctor did not die. However there were more pressing issues at hand I had to focus on. Like the gaping hole in the wall!

The double doors of the warehouse had already been destroyed from the fighting. But after that bomb went off, the wall next to it was blown apart, tripling the size of the exit for the thugs.

A few projectiles impacted the Plague Doctor’s translucent shield. There were much fewer flying about now. The Plague Doctor seemed to have mostly targeted those with ranged weapons during the previous engagement.

I picked myself up as the domed barrier dissipated, and the first thug charged at the Plague Doctor. The masked man simply brought his cane up, aiming the slightly pointed end at the charging enemy. The lower half of the cane glowed, the mana crystal at its top shining a different color. Then the Plague Doctor ran the thug through with it effortlessly.

More thugs came at him swinging their weapons. The Plague Doctor took a fencer’s stance, and met them all in combat. He blocked. Parried. Stabbed. And the thugs fell one by one at his weaponized cane.

I managed to fire off a few shots both at the thugs assailing him, and the ones giving them covering fire. Two fell dead, another was wounded. Before finally, some of the thugs turned their attention to me.

The first man knocked my gun aside, following up with an overhead strike. I sidestepped it easily, stabbing into his guard. The blade plunged into his chest. With a quick twist, I yanked it out and turned to the other two thugs immediately to my right.

I slashed at the one on the right as he backed up. The other thug swung at me from behind, but I sidestepped around it. They came at me at once from both sides. I took advantage of my smaller size to continuously dodge between the two, focusing on deflecting the incoming strikes, while alternating my counters with every other swing.

I managed to cut one low. Right at his shins. And he stumbled back for a second. I immediately followed up on him as his friend tried to stab at me with his sword from behind—

And I ducked out of the way.

The injured thug was struck on his chest. He barely even registered what happened before he fell, with the blade lodged into his heart. The other thug’s eyes widened in shock as he realized what happened. I took that opening the moment I saw it. With a quick double slash, the other thug fell over.

I was panting. My breathing was heavy. I had to labor for each breath to come out. If only I could use magic! But I could not.

I swung my gaze around, looking at the fighting happening right in front of the warehouse; there were still over a dozen thugs circling around the Plague Doctor. But they were keeping their distance. The small pile of bodies at his feet was enough of a deterrent to keep them all charging in at once.

A part of me wanted to immediately charge in and help him. But another part was screaming at me to get out of here. I was scratched up, and if I had made a single mistake, I would have been dead by now. And more than that…

"Gah!"

A scream. And another thug fell dead in an instant.

"What are you doing, idiots there’s only one of him!"

"Attack him together—"

It seemed like he did not need my help; if anything, he seemed to be taking this threat more lightly than not. Whether I was here or not would have made no difference— so why not leave?

I took a step back, still undecided on what to do. But before I could actually make my decision, someone else made it for me.

"Trying to leave, are ya? Too bad. A little girl such as ya shouldn’t have come here in the first place."

The thug boss came up from behind me, swiveling his glowing shortsword. The light formed what appeared to be a second blade around the metallic edge of the weapon, and it almost looked like it was… vibrating?

"Ya come here, and cause a mess, killing dozens of my men. This gang which I’ve built up for so long. And ya really expect to leave just like that?"

"Um, yes?" I quirked my head to the side. "Although I wasn’t sure if I was going to leave. I was only thinking about it, you know?"

It was a quip. A stupid quip. The only thing I could think of saying at the moment, with my heart pounding faster and faster the longer I stared at his chainsaw blade.

He shook his head. And as he did, I thought I could almost see the Plague Doctor take notice of what was happening from my peripheral vision. Before I could turn my head to confirm, the thug boss snarled.

"I have some bad news for ya, brat. I’m going to make you pay for this!"

He lunged forward at me. I brought my dagger up to block his attack. Our blades met midair. The clash was not like any other I have felt before. The rapidly rotating aura of energy forced my hand back upon contact. I did everything in my power to keep by my dagger from flying off.

The thug boss saw me stagger back. He pressed forward, not letting up his attacks. I tried to parry another swing, but once again I almost lost hold of my weapon. I watched him load up for another strike, and this time, I dodged out of the way.

He continued his relentless swinging. Not even bothered by my attempts at counterattacking— easily avoiding me with his superior reach. I backed up several feet as the thug boss spat. "Stop running, and just give up!"

He pulled out a round object. It was a bomb, of course. "Catch," he said, throwing it at me.

Why would I do that?! I leapt out of the way in time. The shockwave did not knock me back, but it did cause me to stumble a little bit. Oh my God, I’m actually going to die—

A glowing light cut through the dust and smoke. The chainsaw blade came right at me. Straight at my neck. I barely even registered it. But my instinct kicked in, and my hand went up in a panic. A finger twitched. And a light covered me.

My magical barrier shot up just in time. The blue shield that was slightly bigger than me formed where my hand was, taking the brunt of the hit. Cracks formed where the enchanted blade struck, but it did not shatter.

The sudden glow must have attracted more than a few looks, as I heard a few gasps. The thug boss stared at the magic circle right at my palms, slowly registering what he was seeing.

"H-heretic!"

He yelled, recoiling from shock. He worked his jaw to say something else, but I did not let him; I saw an opening, and I took it.

The magic circle disappeared alongside the barrier as I alleviated the spell. Already, another spell was forming on my other hand, as it shot up pointed towards the thug boss. I said its name to cast it faster.

"Fireball."

And it shot out at him. He did not even have time to react. The large sphere of flames engulfed him entirely, carrying him to a cluster of trees at the back. There was an agonizing howl as the thug boss was swept up by the spell, but he was quickly silenced by the explosion that followed it. But it was not just him.

Everyone was staring in stunned silence at where the thug boss blew up. At the crater surrounded by flames, crackling, and burning up the remaining shrubbery that survived the blast. The only exception was the Plague Doctor— he was looking at me. But all the thugs?

"M— that’s magic!"

"A Dark Crusader? Run for your lives!"

"She killed the boss! She’s a Demon!"

"Goddess grace us—"

Pandemonium broke out. The thugs threw down their weapons, making a break for it. I was about to stop them. Maybe with an area of attack spell. But the Plague Doctor just shook his head.

"Hm, if that was your secret, you should have just said so." He raised an arm, opening his hand up towards the sky. "I don’t think she’d like it if any of you tell on her. So unfortunately, I’ll have to stop you."

A mass of energy began to form on the palm of his hand, and my eyes went round. Glowing green particles shaped into an orb. About the size of my head. Magic? I thought to myself. No— where’s the spell circle?

The thugs that saw this screamed as well. A dozen of them scattered in all directions, fleeing from us both. But there was no point. The first beam shot out of the green ball of energy, curving midair to strike the nearest thug. Then another came out, followed by another, and another.

Shouts of pain came and went one after another. The last of the thugs only managed to get several dozens of feet away, before they, too, dropped dead.

The Plague Doctor lowered his hand, the green energy dissipating into nothing; he nodded his beak-like mask to himself, then started for me. I took a wary step backwards as he approached.

"Are we going to do this again?" he asked. "Calm down, Melas. If I was going to harm you, I would have done so by now."

He’s right. I knew he was right; however not only did he now know about my magic. There was also…

"What was that?!" I snapped, pointing a finger at all the corpses, then back at him. "Why didn’t you just do that the entire time!"

The Plague Doctor shrugged, replying as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The same reason you did not use your magic. I believe we were both at fault for being too cautious of one another, choosing not to reveal our secrets unless absolutely necessary."

"I— but, that’s…" I bit back my tongue, sighing. "Well that’s fair, I guess?"

"Indeed," he concurred casually.

I heard a branch snap; I cast a glance to the side, and saw the flames from my Fireball were spreading to the rest of the woods, looking as if it were not stopping anytime soon. I should probably put that out, shouldn’t I?

Unfortunately, since the magical flames went on to create regular fire, I could not just put it out with Dispel Magic. I could theoretically force the fire to extinguish itself, but not only was it more than I had ever done that on before, it also usually made it burn up all its fuel at once— something which I was certain would get pretty bad here with all the potential sources of fuel.

I knew a few Hydromancy spells, but not enough to quickly put it all out. It would have taken a while for me, so I turned to the Plague Doctor.

"Do you know any water magic?" I asked, gesturing at what appeared to be the start of a forest fire.

"No," he said simply, "I do not know any magic. Especially not water magic."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "But what you did earlier— wasn’t that magic? Thaumaturgy?"

"There were no spell circles, no?" he pointed out the obvious.

That was true; I noticed as much when it happened. I assumed that maybe it was something similar to pre-casting, or maybe he was hiding the magic circle somehow. But now that he admitted that was not the case, I was… lost as to what he did. It could have been some advanced mana tool, however I sincerely doubted it.

"Wait, so how did you do that?"

I heard a muffled exhale. The Plague Doctor took a step forward, reaching for his mask. "You know, I knew you had a secret from the first time I saw you at the orphanage. Magic was… not unexpected. But I believed that maybe there was something more than that."

I folded my arms. "What do you mean by that? Magic gets you killed!"

"Only in some places in this continent of Vitae. And while it is illegal in both continents, especially so in Soli, that is only because of the influence of the Church. Even so, the Dark Crusaders exist. Some criminal organizations employ spellcasters within their ranks. And there are many stories of children finding a book they should not, and picking up magic in their adolescence before an adult or a member of the Church ‘disciplines’ them."

I… did not know that. "Is magic really that pervasive?" I asked stupidly.

"Not pervasive. It’s uncommon. Rare, even. An average person would never meet a practicing spellcaster more than once in their life. And that is unknowingly. However, I am a master of secrets. I have seen many in my time, and I know for a fact, that secret is not the grandest of them all." The Plague Doctor pulled off his beak-like mask. I caught a glimpse of his face underneath his face covering. He was... handsome.

I had thought he would be ugly, or at least, terribly scarred across the face, which was why he wore the mask. But instead, his face was unmarked. His skin almost glistening under the pale moonlight, and his face was almost perfectly symmetrical. He had sharp violet irises, and curly blonde locks that went down his shoulders. It was almost a crime to cover up a face like that!

"What do you want from me? It’s still illegal!" I argued, as the Plague Doctor yanked a glove out of one hand.

"I know it is," he said, "but something tells me that’s not your only secret."

I scowled, pocketing my hands. "I’m not telling you anything else. You won’t even tell me how you did that weird magic thing!"

"True, you did reveal a secret to me," the Plague Doctor remarked, rolling up his sleeves. "Now it’s time for me to reveal one of mine."

Then he raised his arm up, pointing at the flames. There was a glimmer, then I squinted as it turned into a flash of light.

Lines began to form. Not into a magic circle, or even in midair like they usually did. No— glowing green lines began to draw itself down his arms. Up into his hand, forming a complex pattern. Like some kind of magical tattoo. But it was not magic.

It was a miracle.

The lines stopped at his shoulders. I could see some of it peeking up the right side of his neck. Otherwise, however, was left alone. A globule of water amassed in the direction he was aiming; it quickly ballooned up in size, covering most of the area on fire, before dropping. The water splashed over the flames, putting it out completely.

I covered my head as thousands of little droplets rained down on me for a moment. But it ended soon enough.

"You—" I whirled on the Plague Doctor. "You’re a Saint?!" I exclaimed.

"No," he said simply. "I am not."

"But that was a miracle! Only Saints and Saintesses can—"

I was halfway speaking, when it finally dawned on me. It was not so much of an epiphany, and more of putting the pieces together; I realized what was going on right as the Plague Doctor put my thoughts into words.

"I can perform miracles, but I am no Saint. That is my secret."

I put a hand up to my cheeks and felt it for a moment. I slowly brought it down to my arms, feeling the smoothness of my skin. It felt… good as new.

Better than ever, in fact. Almost as if I had been applying some skincare product my entire life— which I had never done once in this world.

And yet, when the Plague Doctor performed his miracle on me, it not only healed all the minor injuries I suffered from the battle, it made me feel gorgeous!

"How does that work?" I asked. I quickly realized how dumb my question sounded and elaborated. "I mean, healing potions don’t do that, right? They just heal you. Regrow your skin so it's fleshy and weak. But your miracle healed me and it’s making my skin glow!"

My past self would have been so jealous of my current self’s body. It was like something straight out of a beauty commercial! Not that I had seen one in over ten years, of course.

"It’s not the same as an ordinary healing potion. My miracles don’t just heal one thing. It can target and purify everything at once. But it’s effects will wear off soon enough. A clean body only stays clean for so long."

"And that’s how you heal the Noxeus?"

"Yes," the Plague Doctor confirmed. "There is no potion— no cure for the Noxeus. At least, it’s not something that myself, or many other talented Alchemists, have been able to conceive. The very origins of the plague is a mystery. Trying to understand the plague itself is something that is many times more difficult. Let alone creating some sort of remedy for it."

"I see," I said, rubbing a temple.

"What’s wrong, Melas?"

"I was… hoping that there was a cure for it. You’re the Plague Doctor, you’ve seen it yourself— how bad the Noxeus gets." I shuddered as I recalled a pile of bodies on the side of a road back in the Free Lands. "I thought that if you had some potion for it, I could get you to share its recipe with the world."

"I would have already done so long ago if that were the case," the Plague Doctor stated simply.

"I know, I know," I sighed wistfully, "I just wish this world wasn’t so terrible."

"Agreed."

There was a moment of silence. But not complete silence. It was turning to day soon; the sounds of birds and insects filled the void, along with our footsteps as we trudged along the road.

I cast a quick glance at the girl on the Plague Doctor’s back. Hannah was still unconscious, even though she was completely healed. Supposedly, she was just asleep because she was tired. But her skin… and mine too…

"Do you… use your miracles on yourself?"

"Pardon?" the Plague Doctor paused midstep, and turned to me.

"When you took off your mask earlier, I saw your face. And your skin. It looked so good. Do you use your miracles to maintain that?" I inquired about what was clearly the most important question I had.

"...no comment."

"Hey, you need to tell me!" I raised a finger accusingly. "You do, don’t you?"

"No comment."

"You’ve got to teach me how to do that!"

"I told you earlier, it’s not something I know how to teach."

"But—"

"Shush, she’s waking up. We’ll talk more later today."

"Fine."

Hannah opened her eyes, shifting in her position on the man’s back. "W-what’s going on?"

"Do not strain yourself, Ms Hannah. Your wounds have healed, but you are still tired. Rest, and you will find yourself back with your family in no time—"

By the time we got back to the orphanage, the sun had already risen. But they were all waiting for us.

Everyone in the orphanage stood at the gate. They looked like they did not get a wink of sleep, but even so, they all jumped up when they saw us return.

"Hannah!"

"She’s back! She’s really back!"

"The Plague Doctor did it—"

…

Ok, fine! They jumped up when they saw the Plague Doctor return.

They all ran up to Hannah and embraced her in a tight hug. I could make out faces among the crowd: Eaton holding her tightly with both eyes clamped shut; Jay was holding back a tear as he clutched her arm, apologizing; Callie and Patty both crying simultaneously—

Faces I recognized. But people I barely knew. Even Ms Sharity, who was standing at the back, standing guiltily back away from them all.

"Hannah, I’m so glad you’re safe—"

"Mom," Hannah cut her off. She ran forwards at Sharity, and threw herself at her in a hug. "Mom— I was so scared. I thought I would never see you again! I thought I would never see anyone here ever again!"

The girl’s mother— no, the mother of this family eyes widened in shock at being called ‘mom’ for the first time. The rest of the family poured in on her, following after Hannah. All of them were crying now, and Sharity too had tears streaming down her face.

"Mom, why did this have to happen?"

"Please, mom. I promise I’ll do better!"

"Mommy, I love you so much—"

"My children, I’m so sorry that had to have happened. It was my fault. I promise I will not let that happen ever again."

It was a heartwarming scene happening here once again; too many in the span of three days. Yet, even though they were little more than strangers to me, I felt happy for them this time.

"It feels good, doesn’t it? To know you’ve helped someone?" the Plague Doctor spoke up from beside me. "But come, the best part is yet to come."

And it came.

Ms Sharity approached the Plague Doctor, and bowed her head deeply. "Thank you so much. I owe you everything for saving not just Patty and I from the Noxeus, but Hannah too from those wicked people."

"It has been my pleasure, Ms Sharity. However, this was not something I did alone." The Plague Doctor took a step to the side, and ushered me forward. "This brave young girl helped me too."

"Huh? Wait—" I tried protesting, but suddenly found myself at the center of attention. Then I realized I was blushing, which made me even more embarrassed.

"She did?" Ms Sharity stared at me, disbelieving. But the Plague Doctor allayed those doubts.

"Indeed. She was at the gang’s hideout even before I got there. She would have saved Hannah herself if you had not found me."

It was like something clicked in the woman’s head; she must have remembered the probing conversations I had with her yesterday, and realized the Plague Doctor was not lying. Then she directed her gratitude towards me.

"You have my thanks too, Melas. For helping save Hannah. Thank you so much."

My first thought was to deny it. To have said something along the lines of ‘oh it was nothing’, but I knew it was not just nothing; I had put in a lot of effort to help them, and did a lot of things I would have rather never done to achieve it.

Plus, it was a happy ending. One I wished I could have gotten together with my own mom. But even if that never came true for me, I was content with seeing it happen to others. So instead, with my cheeks still flushed I accepted their thanks with all my heart.

"You’re most welcome," I said, beaming.

Chapter 9: Adventure

Miracles. What were they?

Back in my world, I always thought miracles and magic were basically the same thing. Just that one was the power of God, and the other was the power of… something else?

Depending on who you asked, it was either some innate power people had, or it was the work of the Devil. Or both were fabrications, and neither magic nor miracles truly existed. Different people believed in different things, after all.

But that was back on Earth.

In this world, magic and miracles were as real as Demons and Monsters. I knew it was real: I had seen a Saint— watched him perform the miracles only he could do. So I knew it was real. And magic was something I was capable of. So there was no reason for me to doubt the veracity of both.

But just as they were real, so were the parameters that defined them. Magic was something anyone could do; it was the manipulation of mana to alter reality to how you saw fit. Or something like that.

There were also supposedly side effects in casting magic en masse. Apparently, magic slowly killed the world, since it drained mana from the surrounding environment. That was how Hell became what it was today.

At least, that was according to the Church. What Hell actually looked like, and whether that was limited to only certain types of magic, all completely evaded me. What I knew for certain was that magic was entirely possible by anyone. Miracles, however, was a completely different story.

Miracles were the manifestation of the Goddess of Light’s powers in the world. Before the Great Hero Xander came about, miracles were never recognized by the Church. They were random events which happened to a very small number of individuals, which could never be replicated by anyone; so they were thought to be either complete lies but said individuals, or a form of magic that came about accidentally.

But after the Great Hero Xander enlightened the world— after he performed his Seven Great Miracles throughout Soli to unite the continent— only then were miracles officially recognized by the Church. According to his teachings however, only truly good individuals could perform miracles regularly. Because they were so good, the Goddess would channel Her powers through them. Everything else was an isolated act of the Goddess

It was said he did not so much as teach the First Saintess Xanthe how to perform a miracle, as he did teach her how to be pure of heart. Allegedly.

So only Saints and Saintesses could perform miracles. For they were the ones cleansed by the Church’s teachings. Taught all of the virtues to uphold, and sent on all of their righteous tasks to accomplish.

And yet, last night, I witnessed the third person not affiliated with the Church or the Holy Xan Empire performing a miracle. The first was my mom, on the day she died. The second was myself, after I killed Victor. And the third was the Plague Doctor.

He told me he could not teach me how miracles worked, for he himself did not know. It was less defined than even magic— more of a feeling he unlocked one time when he was younger. And he could simply do it ever since. So I thrust a hand out, and—

Why isn’t it working!

I had done a miracle before. I knew I did. Or at least, I thought I did.

Unfortunately, I was exhausted. Too tired to even remember what happened. And a lot of things happened that night. I only remembered a swirling of emotions, feeling a lot of things inside of me, before I suddenly was fine.

So there was no frame of reference for me to work with; I could only throw my hands up and sigh, as I had wasted the last hour trying to perform a miracle. It was probably a few hours past noon by now. And I was feeling hungry.

I only took a few hours to nap after I got back from the orphanage— I quickly left after Ms Sharity thanked me, because I would have died of embarrassment if I stayed there any longer. Receiving their gratitude felt amazing, but it would have gotten overwhelming too soon. And now, it was time for me to leave.

I packed up my bags, grabbing my satchel from underneath the bed, and made sure I had everything I needed. Once I was certain I was fully ready to leave, I exited my room and made my way downstairs.

"Finally leaving, little Miss?" the Innkeeper asked, as I handed him some coins. "Going to miss you clearing out our pantry everyday at lunch."

"Give your cook my commendations. His meals were always a treat."

"Of course," he said, reaching for something under the counter. "And here’s a meal for the road. Don’t eat it all at once, ok?" He handed me a container packed with dried meats.

"Thank you." I gratefully accepted the box, and headed off.

Now to find that Plague Doctor.

When we parted a few hours ago, he gave me half of the gold we managed to find in the gang’s hideout. It was not much— around 9 gold total worth of coins for me; apparently they were falling on hard times since their only business model— selling slaves to the Free Lands— was not so profitable anymore.

Extorting poor people did not count, by the way; they specifically did it not expecting to make any money, using it as a method to support their primary income. But they did seem to be branching out to selling illegal drugs, which was a recent thing, and was probably the reason why they did not have as much money as I expected them to have.

But after the Plague Doctor handed me the gold and a weapon off of a dead body— just a pistol, to keep on me at all times— he said he had to settle some things and took off. We arranged to meet again later, although he did not exactly tell me where—

I walked out of the inn and was faced with a beak-like mask.

"Well then, took you long enough," the Plague Doctor casually remarked.

Blinking, I raised an arm and pointed at him. "Wait, when did you get here?"

"About an hour ago," he said, pulling out a small pouch from his coat. "Come. And here, this is for you."

I heard some metallic clinks as he placed it on the palm of my hand. Loosening its strings, I peered inside of the pouch. "Coins?" I pointed out the obvious, as we started down the mostly empty street. "But didn’t you already give me my share of the loot?"

"That was what we took from the thugs. However, they are criminals. Wanted by the local government— and some townsfolk all over the area too, I presume. I went to the Mercenaries Guild in the next town over to collect the payment for their bounty. It’s not much. Not even a gold coin for each of us. But if they were actually worth something, they would have been wiped out long ago."

"Oh, uh, thanks. You didn’t really have to give it to me." I appreciated how fair he was being towards me, but there were a lot of coins. Mostly copper, with a handful of silver. But the weight of it all added up, and it was not even worth that much. "So where are we going?"

I was following him; he was not exactly leading the way, but the Plague Doctor was just ahead of me, tapping his cane on the cobblestone road with every other step. "To talk. Over a meal, of course. My treat."

I nodded excitedly at that. We walked for a bit down the road, as I counted out the coins he had given me. It was, in total, worth less than a gold coin— not much, but I was not surprised.

We strode through the busy streets; it was not packed per se— there were just a moderate amount of people going about their business. People who lived in the town, merchants, refugees. I eyed the ragged men and women huddling in the corners and alleyways of the streets, some were begging, others were just laying down there doing nothing. "So you’re a Bounty Hunter?" I asked, handing some of the bronze coins as we passed by a beggar.

"Correct," the Plague Doctor remarked, "even though that is simply a misleading term. Bounty Hunters are just those affiliated with both the Mercenaries and Hunters Guilds, since those are the ones more likely to accept bounties on people."

"I see. And you don’t like that term because you didn’t go out of your way to kill them for the money, right? You were just helping the orphanage, and earning money while doing so is the practical thing to do."

"That is one of the reasons," he said. "Another is that it helps in clearing things up with the local authorities, of course. I did not just go to get paid— I also went to make a report to those that need to know about the destruction of a wanted gang in the vicinity."

"And if they aren’t wanted?" I knew the answer to the question, but I still felt the need to ask it.

"Then no one needs to know about it, now do they?"

"Thought so," I sighed. "So what did you want to talk about? You said you had to speak with me earlier."

"Yes I do," the Plague Doctor said as he led me into a tavern. I followed him in, greeting the tavern wench as I did. "And before you ask— no, I already told you, I can not teach you that. I simply don’t know how," he added.

"I wasn’t going to ask!" I lied.

The Plague Doctor gave me a blank look. Well, with his mask, he always had a blank face on. But this was somehow especially blank. After a moment of awkward silence, where I could only shift uncomfortably in my seat, he continued.

"I needed to speak with you, to ask you what you were going to do now."

"What am I going to do now?" I parroted him.

"What are you plans," he elaborated, waving his gloved hand up in the air. "From what you told me yesterday, you are not a Dark Crusader, no?"

I hurriedly cast a glance around the room, but no one was anywhere close by. And he said it soft enough that even I could barely hear him; so it was unlikely someone heard it. But I still raised a finger to my mouth and gave him a glare.

"I am not. Because of complicated reasons. What does it matter to you?"

"For the same reason I am the Plague Doctor— I want to help you like I help everyone else," the Plague Doctor stated simply.

I scowled. "And how are you going to help me? I told you last night, didn’t I? I’m never going back to the Free Lands."

That was right; before we separated last night, we had a brief conversation. The Plague Doctor told me he was heading to the Free Lands after this— to help all the people there dying from the Noxeus. He asked me to join him, and I turned him down of course. I left the Free Lands for a reason— I hated just being there. There were too many unpleasant memories, and I had suffered too much trauma.

"I am aware. Which is why I’m asking you for your plans. You’re not just planning on wandering the world aimlessly, are you? Because from what you have seemed to imply, I don’t think you’re exactly liked by a lot of very powerful groups."

"The Holy Xan Empire doesn’t even... oh thank you,"— the tavern wench plopped our orders down on the table, and I began to dig in— "they don’t even… mmm this is delicious, you sure you don’t want some?"

"I’m good," the Plague Doctor said, indicating his mask.

"More for me, I guess. But listen," I said, chewing on a piece of meat, "if they knew I was alive, they would want me dead. But they don’t even know that… yet."

"And it’ll only be a matter of time before they find out and send some Inquisitors to kill you. After all, you are not very… subtle."

"It’s not my fault I have black hair and silver eyes, and no other Human in the world but my mom had it!" I threw up my arms in protest.

"I was talking more about the fact that you’re a child traveling by yourself. But your similarities to the Fiend is quite conspicuous too."

"My mom is not— wait, how did you know she was my mom?" I asked stupidly.

"It was a guess. Since you mentioned your mother, and basically told me that she was rather famous. I listed the only woman I know of who has that appearance. Although black hair is not exactly unique, either. Everyone in your mother’s family shares that trait, as well as those with some Elf blood in them." The Plague Doctor hesitated, then he bowed his head. "I’m truly sorry for your loss. I heard the news a few months back. And the Holy Xan Empire keeps on broadcasting it— trying to distract from all the criticisms they have been receiving for keeping their war against the Abominations a secret."

"I… thanks. I was devastated when it happened, but I’m... better, now," I said it, and I meant it; even if my mom’s death still hurt me, some time had passed, and I no longer felt like breaking down at just thinking about her.

I continued eating my meal in silence for a bit, before the Plague Doctor finally spoke up again. "But that is the reason why I need to know what you’ll be doing. If they come after you—"

"They’ll kill me," I finished his sentence for him. "And I don’t want that to happen, of course."

"Right," the Plague Doctor said. Then he leaned his head forward, and whispered. "And if you can’t find protection from anyone, then your death would become an inevitability. You are going up against an empire, Melas. The greatest one the world has ever seen in its entire history. And it’s backed by the Church, an institution that has been around for thousands of years. Since the First Holy War. You can not run from them forever, nor can you fight against them alone."

"How about you?" I asked, frowning. "You’re obviously running from them too. Otherwise you’d be a..." I mouthed the word ‘Saint’.

"My situation is… complex. If the Holy Xan Empire found out about my abilities, they would not hunt me down like they would if they found out about yours. They would seek me out, yes. But they’ll do so to recruit me— by force, if necessary."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "And that’s a bad thing, because…?"

I did not see what was so bad about being made into a Saint; they were, from what I knew about them, treated incredibly well and almost even worshipped within the Church. Like celebrities. Except they slayed all evil and protected those in need. Remembering Saint Theron, I was pretty sure that depiction was a lie.

"I have my reasons. First and foremost, I would no longer be who I am if they indoctrinated me into the Church. They would force me to…" The Plague Doctor sighed, then gave me his usual response when he did not want to give me a proper answer. "More than that— no comment."

I expected that reply. In fact, I did not expect him to even tell me as much as he did; so I decided not to press him any further and let him continue.

"Regardless, I have survived thus far, but not on my own. I have made my fair share of enemies, of course. However, I made many allies too. And from my experience, I can tell you that if it were not for those allies, I would be long dead by now, or kidnapped to Soli."

He was making a good point. Really, I knew from the start of this conversation that he was keeping only my best interests in mind. I took a deep breath and acquiesced. "I don’t really have a plan. I mean, I have thought about it a little. I was considering… becoming a Hunter. To survive— put my skills to good use. And it’s not something that tied me down to a place. If anyone searching for me showed up, I could always just run away." My eyebrows arched darkly over my eyes. "But beyond that? I don’t have a concrete plan."

"And neither do I," the Plague Doctor said, surprising me a little. "I noticed this when we met last night. You and I are kindred spirits. Outcasts. But even outcasts have someone to turn to. No one is ever truly alone in the world."

He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I felt my lips curl into a slight smile.

"I would have suggested you join the Dark Crusaders, Melas. I am familiar with them, and I know they have connections in the underworld almost anywhere you go. They would have offered you protection. But now that I know you can’t…" The Plague Doctor drummed his gloved fingers on the wooden table. "Have you ever heard of the Taw Kingdom?"

"Yes. They’re that big Dwarf Kingdom up north, right?"

"They are. And I feel like you could find yourself something of a home there, if that’s what you’re searching for."

I blinked. "But aren’t they allies with the Holy Xan Empire? That’d be even worse than hiding out in some random town in the middle of some random country!"

"Traditionally, the Holy Xan Empire and the Taw Kingdom are allies. However, their alliance was born from their cooperation against the Demon Lord during the Final Holy War. Since then, their pact has maintained little more than in name. The last time the Taw Kingdom helped the Holy Xan Empire was during the Free War. And that was more because of their own personal distaste of the Free Cities, than out of their friendship with the Holy Xan Empire."

"But still, that doesn’t mean they’ll like me or anything. They were against the Demons for magic." I let the implication hang in the air, as I finished up my food.

"Yes they were. And they also currently have a Dark Crusader problem, which is one of the main reasons why they have not ended their treaty with the Holy Xan Empire. But, in that same vein, they do not see magic users as evil because the Church says so. Their issue lies more in the spellcasters that bother them, rather than spellcasters in general as evident by some of their… recent methods." The Plague Doctor shook his beak-like mask. "If you, a spellcaster, offer your services to them in exchange for protection, I am certain they would be willing to accept."

"And how can I guarantee that happens?" I inquired, wiping my mouth.

"It would not be the first time they’ve offered asylum to an enemy of the Holy Xan Empire, and neither would it be the first time they’ve worked with magic users. Both are rare, but both have happened before," he explained, not exactly instilling any hope in me. Then he pulled out a piece of parchment from his coat. "And their current King owes me a favor."

I jerked in my chair. "Their King owes you a... what?!"

The Plague Doctor looked up at me for a moment, as if he was winking at me from underneath his mask. "I told you, I have made many allies in my time."

"How did you get a King to owe you a favor?" I asked in disbelief.

"I saved his daughter’s life," the Plague Doctor said nonchalantly. "And other such deeds when I was there. He wanted me to marry his daughter, but… I declined for personal reasons. So he should still feel indebted to me, even if some time has passed." He began scribbling down something on the piece of paper.

After he was finished, he folded it and inserted it inside an envelope. He took out a vial of green mixture, and poured a single drop of it over the flap. Taking out a stamp, he pressed it over the liquid, sealing the letter.

"Here," he said. "Ask for an audience with King Adilet. Have this letter delivered to him, and he will summon you to his court personally, and give you a response. And if they won’t send this to him, say it’s from the Plague Doctor. That will ensure it reaches him."

I took the envelope, and looked over it. "What happens if he refuses? Or if I lose this somehow?"

"I send a message to him telling him that I have sent a friend his way. So even if you lose the letter, it does not matter. That is simply a formality. And no matter what happens— even if he chooses to turn you away— I have made it abundantly clear that he is not to let word a single word about you slip to the Holy Xan Empire. So if he rejects you, he will reject you in silence. That, I am certain he will follow through with no matter what happens."

I leaned back in my chair, and sighed. "You know, I just met you yesterday, right?"

The Plague Doctor nodded. "We did."

"And I have very little reason to trust you, since we barely even know each other, right?"

"Yes."

"And because of that, I should be suspicious of you, right?"

"You should," the Plague Doctor agreed. "And please stop asking me rhetorical questions."

"Alright, I’ll stop." I stood up, holding the envelope in one hand, and my staff in the other. "I don’t know how much I should trust you, Plaguy,"— I ignored the odd look he gave me at his nickname— "but I don’t even know your name, nor do I know much about this King. I am not just going to waltz into what could possibly be a trap you’ve set up for me, and even if you’re telling the truth, neither am I going to simply trust you, a complete stranger to me, when you tell me to trust another complete stranger to me."

"That is a fair assessment."

"However," I said, holding a finger up. "It’s not like I have anything else planned in mind. So while I’m not going to just do as you say, I am going to scope this place out. Make my own judgement on whether to approach this King. And decide what to do from there."

With that, I slipped the envelope into my bag.

"I see," the Plague Doctor stood up as well, following me out into the streets. "So would you rather me withhold my message telling him of your arrival?"

"No, then I’d be screwed if I lose this letter you gave me."

"Then what am I supposed to say, Melas?"

I chewed my lips for a moment, hesitating. Then I shook my head, casting aside my worries.

"Tell him— instead of telling the King of my name or appearance, tell the King that… the [Witch] might come to him. And that she’ll need his help."

I almost felt embarrassed saying that; but I had already decided that that was what I was going to call myself from now on. I even bought the clothes to match and everything too!

It was better than just telling everyone my name— especially if the Holy Xan Empire decided to do just a little bit of investigation about me. Ask anybody in Villamcreek what my name was, and they would have made the connection in an instant.

"Very well," the Plague Doctor said. "I will let King Adilet know that my friend, the Witch, might seek him out for sanctuary."

"I— yes. Thank you, Plaguy." I smiled.

I heard a muffled snort underneath his mask, and he retorted. "My name is Felix."

"Alright, Felix," I said. "Thanks. For doing this for me. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t really know what to do after I leave this town."

"And I am glad to have met you, Melas. I don’t know your story, and neither do you know mine. But that is the beauty of secrets, is it not? It makes you curious. It makes you want to learn more about others. And maybe one day, we will meet again."

"Is this supposed to be a goodbye?" I asked, my smile withering away. "I’m not good with goodbyes. I don’t think I’ve said goodbye to any of my friends when I left them."

I thought of the people I had met in this world. All the friends I had made— however briefly we knew each other. From Rin, to Ihsan; Gessitt, to Theodore; or Karna, and Adrian. Even someone like Mr Walden, whom I barely even knew anything about, was included in that list. I never had the chance to say anything to any of them before I left, and I felt a tinge of regret about it.

"Perhaps that’s a good thing. Some believe that goodbye is final. That you only say it to people you’ll never meet ever again. If that’s the case, then by not saying anything to them, it means that you’ll eventually see them again. Whether that means sometime long in the future, or tomorrow, is something that only you’ll find out."

"That’s a nice way of putting it," I said, leaning onto my wooden staff. Still not smiling. But not feeling as bad as I did about it.

The sun stood high in the sky. Our shadows were mere specks on the ground. I watched as people came and went, passing us by every second. I saw faces I had never seen before, and names I would never get to know. I held my breath for a moment. And when I opened my mouth to speak—

I smacked a hand on my head.

"I forgot to collect my hat!" I exclaimed.

"Your hat?" the Plague Doctor asked, quirking his head to the side.

"My pointy hat— my [Witch’s] hat." I spun around, briskly making my way for the hat shop.

"...pardon? Do you need it now?"

"No," I said. "But it’s important for the mood of this scene! I mean, look at you."

I gestured at the Plague Doctor, dressed in his full plague doctor outfit. Meanwhile I was….

"You look cool in your costume, while I’m not even wearing mine! It’s the same as if I’m half naked, talking to a fully clothed man!"

"...I don’t think that’s equivalent?"

"Yes it is," I insisted, walking around a group of people blocking the way. "The hat is the most important part. And I want to look cool too!"

"Most important part of what? You being a Witch?"

"Mhm," I made a sound in agreement. Then I stopped, and pointed at him. "And by the way, it’s pronounced [Witch]," I corrected him.

"That’s what I said?" the Plague Doctor— Felix— just stared at me in confusion.

"No, no. You said Witch."

"Yes."

"But I’m saying [Witch]."

"What’s the difference?"

"You’re pronouncing it wrong! Look, you need to move your mouth like this— see? [Witch]."

"Wit[ch]."

"No, start with an ‘O’ shape—"

We arrived at the hat shop after we finished our entire discussion on Witches. I gave up trying to correct Felix after he inquired on how he should spell the word in his letter to the King of Taw; I obviously did not know what to tell him, so he ended up settling on sending an audio transmission via radio when he got the chance. It was better for him to pronounce it wrong, than for me to try and spell out a word that did not exist.

After we decided on that, we moved on to a different conversation as we stepped into the small building.

"...and the merits to getting a mask far outweigh the cons."

"But it’ll be stuffy and difficult to breathe!"

"And your identity would be better protected," Felix said, voice flat.

"I…" I cast a glance at the young woman looking at us from the counter. "I’ll think about it. Just let me do this for now."

"Hey, you’re back! Here to collect your hat?" the milliner asked.

"Yes, is it ready?" I politely inquired.

"Yep. Have it in the back. My apprentice will get it." The milliner turned around, and called to a room at the back. "Hey, Jay! Fetch me the purple hat on my desk, will you?"

Jay? I exchanged a look with Felix; it could have been another boy named Jay, but when I remembered what the Jay from the orphanage mentioned the day before…

And my suspicions were proven correct. Jay— the boy who tried to rob me a few days ago— walked out carrying a purple hat in his hands.

"Is this it, Ms—" He blinked at me. "Melas? Is this supposed to be yours?"

The milliner paused, pulling out a receipt. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah, we’re…" the boy trailed off, glancing at me uncomfortably. "Uh…"

"Friends?" I suggested with a shrug; that was the closest descriptor I had for our relationship.

I reached into the coin pouched Felix gave me, and handed the milliner the rest of my payment to her. As Jay handed me my hat, I asked him. "You’re… apprenticing here?"

"Oh, yeah," he said with a bit of apprehension in his voice. "I just have been a bit of a troublemaker, y’know? I had been thinking for a while. If maybe I got out of Ms— my mom’s hair for a while, I could come back more grown and she’d be proud of me."

"Come on, Jay. I’ve spoken to Ms Sharity. She showed me all the things you’ve made. She’s proud of you."

The boy looked like he was about to retort, but he bit back his tongue. "...maybe. But I just wanna be better, y’know? I’ll just be living here, working and learning how to make hats and sew in general. I’ll go back and visit whenever I can. But I wanna be an adult. Help out, and not just be a nuisance."

"It’s good that you’re trying to improve," I said, putting on my purple pointed hat on my head. You were a bit of a jerk before, I left the words unsaid.

"Hey, uh—" Jay shifted uncomfortably where he was standing. "Thanks. For helping save Hannah."

"I— you’re welcome." I recalled what happened this morning; before I could get overwhelmed with embarrassment again, I took a step back and began excusing myself. "Now if you’ll…" I began.

"Wait, are you leaving?" Jay asked, calling after me.

I stopped right at the door. Not because I wanted to, but because a gloved hand grabbed me. Felix— the Plague Doctor— was motioning at Jay with his beak-like mask. I frowned. "You want me to— fine."

"Melas, what’re ya talking about? Why’re you with the Plague Doctor, anyways?"

"Listen, Jay. I’ll be leaving town today. No— not today. Right now." I took a deep breath, then turned around to face the boy. "So, uh, bye?"

That’s absolutely horrible! You can’t just say bye to a kid without any buildup to it! That’s too sudden!

Unfortunately, the damage had been done; Jay took a moment to register my words. Then he took a step forward. "Wh— but you can’t—" the boy caught himself from grabbing me. He looked me in the eyes. "Do you need to go right now? You can’t stay?"

"I’m sorry, but I only ever planned to stay here until I got this," I answered his question truthfully, lifting the brim of my purple hat as I did. "I enjoyed meeting you, Jay. It was fun… maybe. But I have to go."

"Where are you going?" he asked meekly, distraught by the news.

"Uh—" I wanted to lie, and tell him that I was going with the Plague Doctor. However I decided against it. "I don’t know, just— anywhere that isn’t in or near the Free Lands. Maybe the Taw Kingdom. Or maybe somewhere else. We’ll see."

"Oh… ok." Jay looked disheartened, and I felt bad about it too. "So this is… goodbye?"

"Maybe," I hesitated. It probably was; I had no reason to ever return here. However, it was always nice to leave things open ended, right?

So I gave the kid my most gentle, reassuring smile.

"But, hey, if we ever do meet again, I’ll be sure to buy my hat from you. And tell Ms Sharity and the others I said goodbye, too!"

"I will," Jay said, resolving himself.

"Bye."

I gave him a farewell hug, and he froze. When I let go, I did not rush off to leave; I slowly walked away, waving at him and the milliner as I did. And he waved back, even until I exited the hat shop.

For a while, I continued heading down the road without saying anything. It was only when I was a bit aways from the hat shop, did I breathe a sigh of relief.

"That was difficult."

"But it felt good, didn’t it?" Felix remarked, popping up beside me.

"I guess?" I cast my gaze heavenward, as I stopped at an intersection. "It definitely made me feel something. But I don’t know if I liked the feeling."

"Well, whether you liked it or not doesn’t matter. You’ll have to get used to it."

"Mhm." I clenched and unclenched my fist. "Thanks for helping me with that, Felix."

"It’s not a problem, Melas. I am the Plague Doctor, after all. That’s what I do— help people."

"I know," I laughed cheerfully to myself.

I shook my head, and glanced down at my hands. Opening and closing my palms as I did.

"Say, are you sure you can't come with me?"

I felt a sense of deja vu; as if this happened before. And it did. Just a few minutes ago. Except now, my role was reversed. But unlike Jay, whom I politely let down, I never got my response.

I looked back up, and just as I expected, the Plague Doctor was gone.

He was nowhere to be seen. Not anywhere in the emptier street than before. He had left before I even asked my question, as if he knew the question was coming. And he did so without saying even a single word.

"Stop being so cool," I muttered under my breath.

It would have been nice if we could have hung around each other for a bit longer. I had only just met him, but I liked him a lot. It would have been nice to get a companion; to have someone whom you knew and could talk freely with. And I was going to get one, eventually. It just was not Felix. Not now, at least.

Because this was a passing encounter. We met at a crossroads for a moment— and only a moment. Now we had to continue down our respective paths. There was a chance we could meet again in the future. But this was not the future; it was the present.

And the present held one thing, and one thing only for me:

I’m going on an adventure!

With a goal in mind and a place to go, I started down the road ahead of me.

Chapter 10: Interlude IV - Lilith

"Is that really it?" a voice asked, sounding a little bit disappointed. "I thought it would be grander than that. I’ve seen portraits. And pictures— you know the ones taken for reconnaissance during the Free War? And it made it look way nicer than this."

Edith turned from where he sat on his horse. He glanced past his four companions who were also looking in the same direction as him, and at the girl who spoke. She was a beautiful young woman, dressed in garments that matched her appearance. And while the lack of armor may have made it seem as though she was unprotected, the dozens of mana crystals engraved throughout her clothing implied otherwise.

"What?" the woman said, taken aback by the staring. She flipped her azure hair back with one hand, and huffed. "I’m just saying, it’s nothing amazing. Every time I am allowed back into Xanderia, I just get mesmerized by how wonderful everything is. This pales in comparison to our majestic Capital city!"

"Saintess Lilith," Edith finally spoke out, adjusting the open helmet on his head, "I don’t believe we’re here to sightsee. We’re here on official business. At the formal request of both the Free Cities and the Chained Cities in Besha."

"Fine," the woman said, pouting. "But I don’t really see what makes this place so special. It’s even got its own title and everything!"

The man shook his head. He grasped at his horse’s lead, pulling it as he did. He took off in a gallop, and his companions followed after him.

"Hey, wait for me!" Saintess Lilith called out.

And the group of six— one Saintess and five Inquisitors— rode down the gravel road, towards the gates of the city up ahead. Together, the delegation from the Holy Xan Empire entered into Boleria, the Free City of Trade.

"—but those Abominations have not once left the city!"

"And you’re sure about this?"

"When can I go? I’m bored. I want to explore!"

"Yes. We were unable to investigate for the first two months due to the dangers surrounding a scouting mission, but after we appeased the Slaves— ahem, the Chained Cities— by outlawing slavery, and no other cities in Besha were attacked by a horde as large as the ones that took Bys, we sent a small group of riders to survey the scene."

"And what did you find?"

"I bet they were just hanging around the city. Abominations tend to do that. Hey, is there any entertainment in this city? Anything I can do for fun?"

There was a cough. The Bolerian official politely bowed her head to the woman interrupting him. "I’m sorry, Madam.... Saintess. While your conjecture was correct, I feel like your… comments are disrupting this meeting."

Saintess Lilith sat up, her head snapping at the elderly man who said that. Her malachite green eyes flickered, and she smiled. "Are you saying my presence is not necessary? Am I allowed to leave?"

"No, Saintess Lilith," Edith ordered, "sit."

"I’m not a dog!" the Saintess exclaimed in feigned annoyance. "I’m a Saintess of the Holy Xan Empire," she said, indignantly folding her arms, "I feel like I should be treated with more respect."

Another Inquisitor— a woman with pointed ears— leaned over to Edith. "Sir, don’t you think we should just let her go? If you want, I can tail her. Keep her out of trouble."

Edith hesitated. He looked at his companions. The other four Inquisitors seemed like they were getting sick and tired of the Saintess after over a month of travelling. Her constant whining, pranks, and general attitude was difficult to deal with, even for the most disciplined of individuals. They were practically begging him to let the Saintess do whatever she wanted.

The man turned back to Saintess Lilith. She had her head down, with her eyes opened wide, looking up at him. "Please?" she pleaded. "I never get to leave the Gates of Hell. I just want to see something… new."

The squad leader for the mission saw this, and he wavered. He took a deep breath, opening his mouth to speak—

"No."

And that was that. The Saintess slumped over and began to complain, but Edith could not let her do whatever she wanted. Because while his companions may have thought he was simply the leader of their team dispatched to deal with the Abominations, he had another task. A secret one. And it was simple:

Don’t let the Saintess escape.

And as annoying of a job it was, he was not going to let that happen, no matter what.

The Inquisitors spent a night to rest in Boleria before heading off to Bys. They were given luxurious accommodations, sleeping in the best rooms and dining on the best foods the city had to offer. Edith had a little too much to drink, so he went to bed early, and was woken up by a light rapping on his door.

"Ugh, who’s there?" the Inquisitor asked with a groan.

"It’s Hadi," a female voice said. "I need to speak with you, Sir. It’s urgent."

Edith got up out of bed, grabbing his weapon just in case. He opened the door, and was faced with the only Elf in their group. Her pale blue skin would have made her blend in with the darkness of the night, if not for the lamp she held in her hand.

"What happened, Hadi? Is it about the Saintess?"

"Yes, Sir. You asked me to keep an eye out for her tonight— in case she decides to sneak out. And I tried, but—"

Edith snapped. "You let her escape?!"

"No! She was just there one second, and the next…" the Elf woman trailed off. "It’s my fault, Sir. I don’t know where she went."

The man pinched the bridge of his nose. "I— it’s fine. Go back to bed. I’ll find her."

"You will, Sir? She could be anywhere in the city. How will you…?"

Edith shook his head, turning around as he did. "That’s an order, Hadi. I will handle this."

"I— yes, sir." Hadi said, saluting him as she did. Then she left.

Edith shut the door to his room, and rummaged through his bag. There, he found what he was looking for. The Inquisitor pulled out a round object the size of his hands. It looked like a compass at first glance, but when he opened it, it was quite clearly not a compass.

It was a tracking device. Not one that showed the exact location of the person it was tracking, like some sort of radar. And it certainly could not find someone more than a hundred miles away. That level of sophistication required a machine that spanned the size of multiple rooms— something which only the disgraced Scientist Bertrand of the Holy Xan Empire could build. And even then, its range was not limitless and it only gave a general vicinity of its target. Only good for finding where escaped criminals were hiding.

This tracking device simply pointed in the direction of its target. Even more vague, perhaps. But it was useful when you were finding someone close by. And Saintess Lilith could not have gotten too far.

So Edith left his lodging, and began scouring through the streets of Boleria. It was empty. Dark. And very few people were out and about. He saw some refugees, some criminals, and a few patrols of guards. But no Saintess.

He continued heading in the direction his tracking device was pointing him in. Getting further and further away from the center of the city, although the Grand Market of Boleria still hung in the background behind him, too large to simply disappear from view.

The streets did not exactly get poorer the further away he went from the rich palatials that was the domed building. But he noticed a decrease in guard patrols, and an increase in both suspicious looking individuals and beggars sleeping on the side of the roads. Eventually, Edith found himself walking down a dark alleyway, where even the moonlight could not reach.

He heard whisperings. Hushed voices. And when he finally turned around the corner, he saw—

The Saintess talking to a burly man. The juxtaposition between the young, beautiful woman, and the thug dressed in rough clothing, would have made any random person seeing this panic and fear for the girl’s life. But Edith knew better.

"Saintess Lilith, what are you doing?"

The woman jumped. She spun around with a panicked look in her face, as the thug grunted and folded his arms. "Oh, hey Edith. Fancy seeing you here."

"Saintess Lilith, I must ask, who is this unkemptly man and why are you speaking with him in the middle of the night?" The Inquisitor drew his blade, pointing it at the thug.

"Unkempt— you have a lot of nerve, pretty boy."

"Guys, guys, calm down. I don’t want to start a fight here, ok? Please?" Saintess Lilith clasped her hands together, and bowed her head apologetically. "I’m sorry for sneaking out, Edith. Let’s just go back. I’m sorry!"

"Hmph, whatever." The thug whirled around to leave, but Edith did not let that happen.

"I said, stop. Explain yourself. What were you discussing with the Saintess, tell me now."

The thug growled. "Why don’t you make me."

Edith hesitated. He was certain he could take on a thousand men like him without breaking a sweat, but he warily eyed the Saintess. If she turned on him— no, she wouldn’t. Even as much of a troublemaker she was for the Church, she would not attack him. The consequences would have been too severe. She has never done it before, so there was no way she would do it now.

So Edith took a step forward, and the thug tensed. But Saintess Lilith jumped in between the two of them, wrapping her arms around Edith’s hands.

"Don’t— I was just bothering him! I wanted to… I wanted to go and have some fun, you know? I was disturbing that man, he didn’t do anything to deserve getting killed for. I’m sorry for causing you trouble, it’s my fault. Let’s go back, please?"

The Inquisitor lowered his weapon slightly, but the thug was already leaving, shaking his head and muttering under his breath. Edith sighed, sheathing his blade. "Saintess Lilith, if you keep behaving like this—"

"I know! I’m sorry, Edith," the girl said, slightly downtrodden. They began making their way back as she explained. "It’s just, tiring. Trying to be good all the time. I’m always cooped up and watched over by the Church, I could not stand it. I’m a regular person too, with her own wants and needs."

"But you can’t just do whatever you want, Saintess. You have your virtues to uphold. Breaking them would be breaking your Sainthood vows. You’ll forego the powers the Goddess has given you. Do you want that?"

"I don’t, I don’t." Saintess Lilith repeated herself and ducked her head. Her face shadowed over. "Edith, is it wrong to want to enjoy yourself?" She fidgeted with the bracelet— no, the shackles that bound only her right hand, keeping her tracked at all times. She tried to pull it out, but it did not come loose. It was enchanted— crafted by the best tinkerers of the Holy Xan Empire to be incredibly resilient.

The Inquisitor paused midstep. He looked at the girl who was still clinging on to him, tears forming on her eyes. "I— why are you asking this?"

"You probably don’t trust me after I already snuck out once. And you’ll probably report this back to the Grand Inquisitor or the Archbishop,right?"

How did she know— Edith shook his head. "I don’t know what you’re referring to."

She sighed, letting go of him slightly. "I know you’ll deny it, but please don’t tell anyone. I’ll do anything— but just for tonight, I want to enjoy myself."

"I’m not letting you out of my sights, Saintess," Edith said simply.

"I know you won’t." The woman— incredibly beautiful by anyone’s standards— paused, and turned to him. A smile drew across her face, and she leaned over. "And you won’t have to," she whispered.

Edith gazed upon this sight. Felt her voice touch softly at his ear. And as annoying as he found her— as much trouble as she caused him— he could not help but gulp.

The next morning, Saintess Lilith was in a much more cheerful mood. Edith looked tired, but not unhappy either. Their companions gave them an odd look when they emerged from the same room, but none of them commented on it.

"We’ll be heading for Bys soon. It would be a few more days' journey even if we travel at top speed. But from the information we’ve gathered, it is unlikely the situation would change even if we take our time getting there."

"Yes, and since it’s been months and it hasn’t left the city, this Amalgamation is probably a greedier one. It wants to absorb all the bodies it can, rather than try and grow its horde," Saintess Lilith said nodding in agreement.

All five Inquisitors stared at the young woman in shock, confused by her more amenable personality. She was their expert in dealing with the Abominations, but up till now, she had been… difficult. She blinked back at them.

"What? I’m just saying— if the Amalgamation was not being greedy, it would’ve moved on to the next city after three months, rather than incubate in Bys for another six."

"I— no, it’s nothing." Edith frowned. Was it really that easy? But the Saintess just shrugged as two Bolerian officials passed by.

"I don’t know what’s gotten into you guys. But I need to use the toilet." She spun around, calling after one of the Bolerian officials— a brown haired woman in her 40’s— and ran after her. "Hey, wait, do you know where the bathrooms—"

The squad leader just sighed, letting her stop the Boleria officials for a moment. He ignored her conversation with them since they were out of ear shot, and turned to the rest of his companions.

"Once we reach Bys, our plan is to target the Amalgamation. Carve a path through all the other Abominations to destroy it. Without their leader, the regular Abominations would become mindless Monsters and disperse on their own."

"But what about the surrounding cities?" Hadi protested. "I know most of them have already been razed to the ground, but there’s still some left— both Free and Chained Cities! And Boleria too— they asked for our support. They’ll be in danger!"

"Boleria asked us to clear Bys from Abominations because they felt threatened by its presence so close to their city. And that’s exactly what we’re doing," Edith said snappishly. "If they want, they can ask for protection from the Holy Xan Empire, but unlike this extermination mission, we won’t be doing that for free."

There was a logical approach to this. By answering their call for aid, Boleria and both the Free and Chained Cities, would already be indebted to the Holy Xan Empire. But if they were to once again ask for more support, it sets up the possibility of an alliance of sorts between them. One where the Holy Xan Empire held the leverage over them, of course.

And if they did not ask for their support to combat the dispersing Abominations— well, it was always a good thing when your enemies were in disarray. Chaos was a good thing to inflict upon those you did not like. It primed the Free Lands for a possible full scale military intervention by the Holy Xan Empire, if the need ever arose.

Both outcomes were beneficial. Although they were merely possibilities, and nothing was set in stone just yet. Everything was to be done with the best interest of the Holy Xan Empire in mind. And that was all Edith care about— to support his country. To support the Church.

Because, in the whole entire world, there were no other forces as good as they were. And if they could help save innocent lives while gaining a geopolitical advantage over their enemies, wouldn’t that be a net victory?

That’s right. He eyed the Saintess, who was still speaking with the Boleria officials. She caught him looking at her and waved cheerfully at him. It’s the same thing, he thought.

If he could apply that same logic to her— if he could keep Saintess Lilith happy, while keeping her under the control of the Holy Xan Empire— then what was wrong with doing this?

It made sense to him.

The group of six arrived in Bys less than a week later. They had been traveling nonstop, and finally arrived in the destroyed Free City the day before. Of course, they did not charge right in. They made camp a few hours away, and scouted out the area to make note of any discrepancies with the information they had and the actual situation.

To Edith’s relief, there had been no anomalies. Nothing they did not account for even when they were assigned this mission. The Abominations were lurking about in the city. Not just thousands or tens of thousands of them. But hundreds of thousands. And at the center of the Free City of Slaves— at the ziggurat that was the only grand structure of the city left standing— the Amalgamation awaited them. It was not moving.

Just... waiting. Incubating. Growing.

From her seat on Edith’s horse, Lilith whistled. "Well that’s a big one. No wonder it’s taking so long to consolidate itself. It’s almost a quarter the size of the Oligopolis!"

"Lilith, we’ll support you by covering your flank. But you’ll have to take care of it yourself," Edith said, getting off his horse. He held out a hand, helping the woman down from her seat on the horse.

"Are you sure about this? Can the Saintess really take that thing down?" Hadi asked, voice uncertain.

"I’ll be fine," Saintess Lilith said cheerfully. "I’ve taken down even bigger ones that crawled straight out of Hell. Although I did do it with the help of the Holy Knights… more Inquisitors... and a supporting army! Still, this is nothing to me. Especially since it’s currently dormant, it’ll be much easier to take out as it is right now."

"But—"

"She said she’ll be fine, Hadi. Just follow your orders," Edith interrupted the Elf with a snap of his fingers. He had been getting tired of her constant questions. Elves, they just can’t listen.

The Inquisitors readied their weapons. Edith drew his sword, as Hadi pulled out a large longbow. Another Inquisitor drew two small sickles, one had a giant war axe, and another carried Alchemical potions alongside an array of mana tools and weapons.

"Look out for the Atrocities. They look like regular Abominations, but they’re much stronger than them. You’ll know when you see one because they’re the only ones that actually glow." Saintess Lilith drew her spear, grinning as she did. "Now, let’s do this."

The six individuals ran for the city, straight at the gates of Bys. They were going against hundreds of thousands of Abominations. They were so terribly outnumbered, even with the first group of Abominations they saw. Dead Monsters and dead Humans turned to face them. The blue bulbs sticking out of different parts of their body, pulsing a dim yellow light that was almost invisible in the day.

The Abominations reacted quickly. Thousands of chirp-like sounds echoed as they ran almost mindlessly at the incoming targets. At the small group of Humans and one Elf. Dozens of them led the first charge, going straight for the young woman at the front—

And they vanished.

In an instant, the first rank of Abominations were vaporized. The Saintess continued running past them, red lines spreading throughout her body. She swung her spear again, and there was a flash of light. Another hundred Abominations disappeared, taken out by the Saintess’ miracle.

More Abominations came for her, but this time, Saintess Lilith did not engage them. She ran past them as the Inquisitors came up next to her. Supporting her from behind. None of them were stopping.

"Take out those Abominations," Edith bellowed.

Hadi began loosing arrows at them. Rapid firing her explosive munitions at the incoming horde. They fell by the dozens with each blast, being torn apart by the volley from the Elf woman. More explosions came from the other Inquisitors aiding her. A beam of energy coming from a mini cannon shredded through the Abominations like it was nothing.

The Inquisitor with the sickles dashed forward. Drawing his two blades, and he began to slice through them like a whirlwind of blades. The Abominations dropped like flies, dying by the hundreds as the Inquisitors engaged them.

"Horrors to the left. And a group of Amalgams are coming from the right!"

From the rooftops, a group of Abominations began hurling what appeared to be yellow liquid at them. They were not like the other Abominations in that the bodies there were inhabiting were more deformed into a single large rotund blue creature. They launched the projectiles out of their body, their core growing smaller with each attack.

Edith raised a gauntleted hand to block it. The yellow liquid sizzled on his armor, as if it was trying to eat through the metal. Edith was certain that it would have worked if not for the mana crystal enchantments on his platemail.

The Horrors continued raining down their projectiles at the Inquisitors from a distance. The Inquisitor with the cannon however, had enough and decided to put a stop to it. He grabbed a potion and threw it at them. The vial exploded right in the middle of their cluster, engulfing them in a large green web of sticky liquid.

The liquid quickly hardened over them, pinning them against the ground. The Horrors tried to move, but they could not break free. As the Horrors struggled to get out, the trap began to contract, pinning them harder and harder against the ground the more they tried to break free. Squeezing them until, eventually, the first Horror went pop, bursting into a puddle of yellow liquid.

The small explosion from the first began a domino effect, causing the other Horrors to blow up one by one, until they were no more than a yellow stain on the roof of the building. The liquid continued to eat through the tiled bricks, as the Inquisitors engaged the Amalgams.

An Inquisitor brought his massive war axe down on the ground, smashing the earth, and knocking the Amalgams off balance. One of them— composed of three bodies, held together by the blue bulbs— tried to swing back at the Inquisitor. He easily blocked the strike and cleaved the Amalgam in half.

The other Amalgams picked themselves up and surrounded the axe Inquisitor. They attacked him from all sides, as he blocked their onslaught. He was being pushed back by the group of them. He took a step back, then tapped the mana crystal.

The Inquisitor’s axe shone, and its tip flashed blue. He spun around, swinging his war axe all in a single 360 degrees sweep. While previously, it took him all his strength to even cut through a single Amalgam. Now, he tore through them like they were nothing. The Amalgams fell, and the group continued.

They were ripping through the Abominations. Edith was not sure how long they had been fighting, but they were halfway to the center of Bys now. Lilith still spearheaded their assault, although she ignored any Abomination that was not directly in front of her. She was not using her miracles anymore— or at least, she was not using any miracles that Edith could see.

And yet, as she ran through the streets of Bys into the hordes of Abominations ahead of her, she never once slowed. It was almost as if she were running unimpeded. She struck down any Abomination that attacked her without any effort. Even the larger ones like the Amalgams were no nuisance to her.

We’re almost there.

Edith knew that. He could see the Oligopolis of Bys right there in front of them. But now— this close to the Amalgamation— it finally sensed them too.

The colossal mass of bodies trembled. Tens of thousands of heads jerked. All of their eyes opening at once, turning to face the threat. Edith saw this, and for a moment, he felt a shiver go down his spine. The sight of a hundred thousand eyes looking at straight at him was bad enough— it would have terrified even the bravest of individuals. But more than that— more than just that fact— they all shone red.

So Edith paused for a moment. And so did the other Inquisitors. Even amidst their constant battle, they found the time to fear this creature. This Amalgamation. But a voice broke them out of their stupor.

It was Saintess Lilith.

"I’ll take that thing out. But I can’t do it if it gets help from those Atrocities over there. Take care of them for me, will you?"

Her voice was as carefree as ever. She glanced back at the team of Inquisitors, giving them a wink as she did. Then she leapt up one of the buildings next to her. Not the regular three story houses that made up the outer city of Bys, but one of the proper buildings that made up the center of the former Free City of Slaves.

Dozens of tendrils stretching a hundred feet each came whipping out of the Amalgamation, striking at the Saintess. She blocked the first with her spear. Then she danced between the subsequent attacks, twirling away from a tendril that pierced through a concrete building and collapsing it.

The Saintess shone. Her entire body once again covered in the glowing patterns, and she thrusted her spear forward at the Amalgamation. There was a terrible shriek, as a red explosion knocked the Amalgamation back. But it still clung onto the ziggurat. Saintess Lilith continued dodging the whipping tendrils of the Amalgamation, sending a torrent of flames at the mass of bodies.

Edith only took a second to take this in. Not just because it happened so quickly, but also because the Abominations around him all reacted as its leader was attacked. All at once, thousands of Abominations abandoned what they were doing, and began running for the Amalgamation to protect it.

The Inquisitors saw this, and tried to stop them from doing so, but there were too many for even them to handle. Edith shouted past all the chitterring and explosions in the background. "Don’t focus on the regular Abominations. Get the Atrocities before it reaches Lilith!"

Edith ran for the nearest Atrocity. The lumbering creature, which was probably once a Horned Ursa, was running amongst the regular Abominations, trying to help the Amalgamation. The squad leader felt himself activating the effects of his sword, and despite still being a distance away, slashed at the group of creatures.

His sword flickered, and a horizontal line appeared where he swung. All the Abominations around the Atrocity fell, sliced in half by some invisible blade. Even the wall behind them fell apart, having been in reach of the attack. And yet, the Atrocity only stumbled back from the hit. It’s abdomen was torn open, but it still seemed mostly fine.

It turned to face its new enemy. At the Inquisitor charging at it. And it struck at him with its claws. Edith managed to dodge the first one, counter with his only swing at where he had injured it. But he lodged his sword inside the wound. He managed to yank it out just in time to block a second strike—

And Edith found himself flying through the air. The Inquisitor landed on the ground with a crack. His armor— the protective mana crystals on it— took the brunt of the damage.

But he was still dazed. He was even bleeding from the head. Edith was in the middle of picking himself up, when he saw the shadow. The Atrocity loomed over him, about to crush him. No, not like this.

He panicked. And it was only thanks to his companions that he survived. An explosion knocked the Atrocity of balance. Dozens of arrows landing on its back. Each sent a shockwave that even Edith felt, but he ignored it, seizing his opportunity.

The Inquisitor brought his sword down on the Atrocity once again, despite hacking at it with all his strength. Once again, his blade pierced into its body, lodging itself inside the wound. But instead of trying to pull it out, he pressed the mana crystal on it.

Once again, Edith’s sword flickered. Almost as if it was winked out of existence for a moment. And when it reappeared, the Atrocity was already falling. This time, fully cut in half by the attack.

"Sir, are you ok?" Hadi ran up to him, laboring with each breath.

Edith tried to muster up a reply, but found that he could barely even speak. If the Elf woman was breathing hard, he did not want to know what he sounded like. He shook his head, and pointed at another Atrocity.

"We...kill...them…"

It was coherent enough to understand. Even if Hadi gave him an odd look for it. She nodded her head, and focused on the next Atrocity.

The first one to engage it this time was the axe Inquisitor. He too, tried to use his enchantment to bring it down quickly. And it almost worked. It was nearly a clean cut, right up until it stopped three quarters of the way through the Atrocity’s chest.

The axe Inquisitor tried to pull it out, but it was too far in. Completely stuck. He tried letting go of his weapon to back up, but it was already too late. The Atrocity grabbed him by his arm, and pulled. The man screamed as his arm was ripped off like it was nothing, before being quickly silenced by the next hit.

There was a shout of anger. The Inquisitor with the sickles charged at it, as arrows exploded around the Atrocity. And together with Hadi, they managed to bring it down.

But there were still more. Another Atrocity came running for the Amalgamation, and once again, the Inquisitors intercepted it. They managed to bring this another four down without casualties, choosing to engage as a group rather than on their own. But then three Atrocities came together, and another Inquisitor fell before they could take them all down.

There’s too many of them.

Edith was briefed on what the Holy Xan Empire knew about the Abominations before he was sent on this mission. They knew the capabilities of the Atrocities as these special Abominations that rarely showed up— the key word there being rare.

This? This was not rare. They had encountered a dozen Atrocities at this point. Far too many in this group of a few hundred thousand. Edith was told that there should have only been one in every hundred thousand. Or at least, that had been the approximation from what they encountered from Hell.

It was different here. This was not Hell. Somehow, something created more Atrocities here than in Hell. He did not know what, but now was not the time to theorize. When the Inquisitor with the sickles finally fell, and it was him and Hadi left, he had decided enough was enough. They had to retreat—

A piercing scream erupted through the city. No— not just a single scream. It was the simultaneous screams of tens of thousands of bodies at once. Edith looked in the direction of the noise, clasping at his ears as he did.

And he saw the Amalgamation fall. The Oligopolis of Bys was destroyed, and the titan that stood on top of it had collapsed. Its body— its bodies— falling apart into thousands of pieces. There was a laugh.

"How’s that for an Abomination, you stupid—" Saintess Lilith happily jumped back to the group, only to see that there was only two of them left. "Oh…"

"Saintess, we need to—" Hadi began, only to be cut off by the other woman.

"Watch out!"

The Saintess cried out, throwing her spear at the Elf woman. Hadi’s eyes widened, and she flinched—

But the spear shot past her. Straight at the Atrocity charging her from behind. The force of the throw was stronger than any ballista Edith had ever seen. It skewered the Atrocity, pinning its body on the cobblestone ground. But it was still alive.

The Atrocity struggled where it laid. It tried to pull itself up, but before it could, another dozen spears rained down on it, covering it like it was a pincushion. Eventually, the Atrocity stopped struggling, as the last spear of ice landed on its head.

"Whew, that was close," Saintess Lilith sighed, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead. She walked over to the dead Atrocity, prying her spear of its corpse. "Well then, let’s get out of here, shall we?"

And for once, Edith agreed with the annoying woman.

It was not too difficult for the three remaining survivors to escape the city. After the Amalgamation died, the coordinated attacks from the Abominations stopped. They almost looked confused, as if they were not sure what to do now

Some of the Abominations began to just leave the city, searching for something to attack. While others just stood around, waiting for something to come to it. And certainly, the Abominations that the two Inquisitors and one Saintess came across did try to attack them. But with very little success, as they were dispatched off in seconds.

Finally, the group could rest, although not before mourning their dead. Hadi was shedding tears for their three deceased companions and Saintess Lilith spent some time comforting her, while Edith began thinking up on how to write the letters he’d inevitably have to send back to their family.

It was difficult, and was never well received. He found it to be a hassle, but it was something he was required to do. He eventually gave up, choosing to figure it out the next day.

But after he went to sleep, he was awoken in the middle of the night by some rustling. The Inquisitor sat up, casting his gaze around his tent. "Lilith?" he called out. But there was no reply. "Goddess grace us, is she really doing this again?"

Edith did not equip his armor, although he grabbed his sword and the tracker before he got out of bed. He grumbled to himself as he went over to Hadi’s tent.

"She can’t even give me one day to rest. I swear, when I find her— hey Hadi, did you see Lilith?"

The Elf woman jerked awake, surprised at the sudden noise. "Wha— the Saintess?"

"Yes," Edith snapped, "that is what I said."

"Oh, uh, sorry Sir. I have not seen her. Did she go somewhere? Do you need me to—"

"No, I’ll take care of this," he interrupted her, turning around to leave already.

He heard her call after him, but he was already heading in the direction his tracker pointed him in. He continued for five minutes. And then ten. Only then did Edith realize that Saintess Lilith must have traveled out more than a bit aways.

The man started to run through the forest. Going as fast as he could, hoping he could catch up to the Saintess. If she escapes, the Grand Inquisitor would have me executed, he thought to himself.

Edith found himself in a full sprint as he cursed the woman under his breath. He made it through a thicket of trees, into a clearing—

And found the Saintess whirling around, surprised to see him.

"Edith— how did you...?" she asked, her voice full of disbelief.

"Damn you, Lilith. You can’t just make my job easy, can you?" the Inquisitor snarled. "Where do you think you’re going?"

The young woman took a step back. "I was just, uh... walking? Having a midnight stroll?"

"Don’t give me that shit," Edith said, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "I’ll ensure the Grand Inquisitor hears about this. And everything else you’ve tried to pull during this mission."

"What? But you promised you wouldn’t tell about that!"

"I did. But you’ve continued being nothing but trouble for me. So now you leave me no choice." Edith said, making it quite clear he was not going to argue with her.

"They’ll send me back to Hell duty. They won’t let me leave, Edith. I just want to live a normal life. I never wanted to be a Saintess. Please, I’m begging you— let me go," her voice came out quivering, almost as if she was terrified.

"I don’t care. It is your fault for causing the Church so much trouble, even though you’re a Saintess."

"But I was only trying to help— Edith, you’ve got to listen to me. Saint Theron lied in his report to the Holy Xan Empire. He said he killed the Fiend, but he forgot to mention that she had a daughter. And she’s out there right now, last spotted with a group of Dark Crusaders near the Chalstics Confederacy. I just want to find her, before she becomes a threat to us like her mother once was."

Edith raised an eyebrow. He was pretty sure she just made that up on the spot just so she could leave. "And why exactly would the Saint lie to us? He has been nothing but diligent in his duties, unlike you."

"Edith—"

"Nothing you can say will convince me, Lilith. I’ve put up with all you asked me to do, but this is where you’re crossing the line. Do you want to know why they place you on Hell duty? It’s because of this," the Inquisitor said, gesturing at the woman. "All you try to do is cause trouble and you neglect your responsibilities as a Saintess. Despite everything the Church and the Holy Xan Empire has given you— despite the powers the Goddess has bestowed upon you to do good— you treat everything like it doesn’t matter. You just want to play. Like a spoiled little brat. I’m bringing you back, and there’s no stopping me."

"Please, we could go together. Me and you," she pleaded, her entire body shaking out of fear.

Edith shook his head. "No," he simply stated, then he grabbed her arm and began pulling her back to the camp.

The Saintess followed him without complaints. Her face was overcast with a shadow, and she let him take a few steps before she let out a wistful sigh.

"I’m so glad you said that."

"What are you—"

Edith stumbled. Something had pierced him through the chest. He took a step forward, before collapsing to the ground. It was only then did Lilith pull out her spear from his back.

"You know, I’ve been dreaming to do that since we first met. It’s been on my mind for so long, and I have to say, this feels much better than I could have ever imagined."

"You— how could you…" Edith gasped for air, but he was bleeding out. "You... idiot… you’ll lose…Sainthood..."

The Saintess looked down at him with her dark green eyes, tilting her head to the side. She looked at him callously, almost as if she was watching an insect die. And then— she smiled.

"I won’t. I’ve done far worse things than this, and I’ve never once lost the ability to perform miracles. Nope." Lilith bent over next to him, bringing her hands to her chin. "I’ve tried, you know? Doing things that would surely make me lose these powers. Things that are considered ‘evil’. And never once, have I been punished by the Goddess for it."

She paused, then she laughed to herself.

"Well, not unless you count an angry lecture by Saint Justin as a form of divine retribution. But other than that? Not really."

Lilith stood back up, putting her hands behind her back, as she stepped away from Edith.

"And that’s not the only thing you’re wrong about," she said, grinning down at him "I’m not on Hell duty just because I cause trouble. I’m on Hell duty because the Church sees me as a danger to those around me."

Edith’s eyes widened, as the Saintess continued.

"It’s funny. Most people in the Church who eventually find out about their secrets— like the Abominations up until recently— seem to think that that’s all there is to know, and there can’t possibly be more secrets kept from them. They never realize that if the Church can keep a secret from the general public, then they also can keep more secrets from them. Secrets like, say, the Cult."

She paused, then she brought a hand to her mouth in feigned embarrassment.

"Oops, did I let that slip? Ah whatever. It’s not like it matters to a dying man," she laughed again, turning around to leave. "I just find it funny that you were told the big secret that I was a troublesome Saintess, and was given the task to watch over me without letting the other Inquisitors know. But never stopped to wonder whether there was another layer you never considered. Because of that, you were so confident I wouldn’t try to kill you, and look where that led you now? Dead—"

An arrow whizzed past Lilith's face, exploding in the distance where it landed. The girl did not even react as another two came flying at her, only moving her head slightly out of the way from the projectiles.

"Saintess Lilith! What are you doing?!"

Hadi jumped down from a tree, pointing her longbow at the Saintess. But before the Elf could even react, Lilith knocked her to the ground with the butt of her spear.

"Hadi, it’s good to see you. At least I’ll be able to say goodbye before I leave."

"...why are you doing this?"

The young woman blinked, taken aback at the question. Then she giggled, stepping away from the Elf. "You know Hadi, I like you. You’re such a nice, innocent person. I’m not going to kill you, so don’t you worry about it."

Lilith lowered her spear, and began to leave. She called back at Hadi, who ran up to Edith and was trying to stop his bleeding.

"Don’t bother trying to save him. Even if you give him a healing potion now, it won’t work. He’s already dead. So don’t worry too much, and ta-ta."

And perhaps that was true. But as Edith struggled to breathe— struggled to even speak— he gathered all his strength regardless, and with his dying breath, managed to say one last thing.

"You’ll…never…escape." Edith coughed, blood coming out of his mouth and chest. "You… can’t…run…forever..."

Lilith halted midstep. She slowly turned to face the Inquisitor, looking down at him. And for the first time, Edith saw true emotion in her eyes. True, pure hatred in her eyes.

"I know," she said softly. She lifted her right arm up, revealing the iron band wrapped tightly around her wrist.

Then with her other hand, she grabbed the tracker and crushed it. Pieces of metal clattered on the floor as the Saintess made her declaration.

"Which is why I’ll give the Church what they want. Then maybe… maybe they’ll finally let me be free."

And then she was gone. Edith watched her disappear as he died. Hadi tried to bring him back to the camp— to revive him with a healing potion. But it was too late. The man was dead, leaving the Elf Inquisitor alone to bring the news back to the Holy Xan Empire.

That Saintess Lilith had gone rogue.

Part Two: Waning Trust

Waning Trust

Chapter 11: The Hunters Guild

I stood, arm outstretched, thumb pointed up. I did not move; I did not run when I saw it approach. I was waiting for it. So I took a step, leaning forwards as it got closer and closer to me. I called out to it—

But the car still drove past me.

I lowered my hand and sighed. Why do you gotta be so rude? Is hitchhiking not a thing in this world?!

I picked up my pack, slinging it over my shoulder, before continuing down the road. There was no point in trying anymore; I wanted to get a lift to the next town over, but no one would stop for me. At least, not any one of the cars I had seen so far.

I managed to hitch a ride on a few different wagons to expedite my travels: it might not have been the fastest mode of transportation, but it was definitely better than walking. And yet, mana vehicles were faster than even carriages, sometimes even surpassing the speed of a single rider on horseback— although still incomparable to what was the norm on Earth. Point was, these cars could cover a good amount of distance very quickly, and I was getting tired of traversing by foot.

Now if only someone would actually stop for me…

I trudged along the gravel road, thoughts flying in my head to distract me from the beating sun. Why wouldn’t you stop for a hitchhiker? This isn’t the 1970’s United States! I’m not going to murder you and your girlfriend for giving me a ride!

I seriously doubted serial killers were that prevalent of a problem in this world; people could perform inhuman feats of strength and speed, which was even furthered by the existence of magic and miracles. So why wouldn’t anyone stop for me?

Maybe drivers in this world are all just jerks? That was perhaps a hasty generalization on my end; my sample size was miniscule and I was making quite the leap in logic. And yet, despite having seen three cars in the last few weeks alone, none even acknowledged my existence. One almost even ran me over!

And considering that the only other car owner I had seen prior to coming to Laxis was Julian Mancis— a slaver, a professional jerkface, and literal scum incarnate— I felt like I was, at the very least, slightly justified in my beliefs.

Regardless, when a wagon drove by me an hour later, I promised myself to give him a nice, big ten bronze coin tip for actually letting me on his cart once I arrived at my destination. Unless the wagon driver was a serial killer who wanted to kill me, of course; then I’d probably just die.

Or I’d kill him.

I wanted to live, after all. I was not going to go down to anyone without a fight. Even if that fake god himself suddenly appeared right now and somehow produced a truck out of thin air to kill me with— this time, I’d blow up the truck if that was what it took for me to survive.

The city of Locke was not the biggest city. In fact, I would rank it closer to one of the smaller cities I had seen— bigger than a town, but far smaller than the likes of Bys or Boleria. The Free Lands generally had larger settlements considering the city-state system of governance they had.

But regardless, unlike the other towns and villages which I have passed through in Laxis, there was something about this city that made me come here. Or rather, it had something which I wanted. And that was a Hunters Guild.

That was not to say that the Hunters Guild only existed in cities. In fact, I came across a handful of branches in some of the bigger towns I found lodging in; the problem with those was that they tended to be smaller and offered fewer services. They were also unprofessional, full of rude and small-minded townsfolk… ok, maybe I was starting to rant a little bit.

But I had every reason to feel that way, considering that they all turned me away!

I’m so mad, I even rhymed that!

It was not necessarily a fault to try and protect a random kid from getting themselves killed doing dangerous jobs. Not only that, but there were regulations in place which prevented such things from happening, since this used to be a problem when the Hunters Guild first began expanding.

Apparently, young boys and girls had an idealized version of what Monster extermination entailed, due to tales of heroism and glory which was rather common in this world. Especially since the Hunters Guild was currently almost ubiquitous in the continent of Vitae, it brought forth a culture of glorifying Monster hunting to a certain extent. There might have been no adventures to seek and no great dungeons filled with traps and treasure to explore, but that was greatness to be found in killing Monsters.

Historians and archaeologists did uncover tombs from ancient civilizations. But their artifacts were merely that— items that came from an age gone by. Useless in this world’s modern era. The Mana Revolution started by the Great Hero Xander had taken the world by storm; nothing from the past could ever compare to the gifts of the Goddess.

Even the inventions from the Gnomes that had once walked this world before being wiped out by the Demons were inferior to the mana tools of today. They had taken gunpowder, innovating it by creating rifles that functioned without mana crystals; they built boats that had no sails, powered by a mysterious white smoke rather than being propelled by mana tech; they had even generated electricity as a source of power, once again without the aid of any mana tools to do so.

It seemed to me that the Gnomes must have achieved technological advancements similar to the Industrial Revolution back on Earth— before they got big headed and thought that was enough to take on nigh-immortal magic users in the Demons. So while it was impressive, it was still rudimentary. The Dwarves, which had momentarily fallen behind the Gnomes’ impressive and rapid growth, have now taken whatever ideas they could take, and were currently mixing whatever knowledge was useful with the field of mana studies.

This all meant that there were no such things as ‘adventurers’, because there were no ‘ruins from an ancient superpowered civilization from the age of legends five gazillion years ago’ (I was not counting the Demons, since they were an anomaly hated by most of the world). The current time period, if anything, would fit those criteria, and being a Hunter was one of the exclusive jobs of now. Which all culminated into me being an unemployed homeless girl who could not even get a job despite having all the qualifications for it!

So I understood the basic sentiment that drove all those small Hunters Guild branches to reject me. I did not like it, but I could understand the reasoning behind it. But I still don’t like it.

And yet, things were going to be different here in Locke; I learned from my mistakes, and I had considered all the advices from those whom I have met in my journey. Because of that, I came to a simple conclusion: wear a mask.

First of all, there was a massive plague outbreak in the Free Lands, which was starting to spread to the neighboring countries because of the massive influx of refugees. I was not sure how effective a mask was at preventing the Noxeus from infecting me, but it was simply better to be safe than sorry— in my personal opinion.

Secondly, wearing a mask would not only hide my identity from all parties interested in my demise— which would make it harder for me to be tracked down— but also allow me to pass off as not a little girl trying to get herself killed. I could pass off as a Goblin, or a skinny pale Dwarf. Or it would have been better to keep it vague and keep others guessing; whatever I did, it would have been better than under the guise of a literal kid.

Plus, if I ever was forced to use magic, no one would know who I was. Sure, my black hair might clue others in to my identity if I were caught in a bad spot, but I could always shave it, wear a wig, or dye my hair. It was much less obvious than having my face revealed.

Thirdly, masks were cool.

That was it. I just thought they looked cool.

I could just picture it: Jumping down at a gang, my mask covering my face and my cape billowing in the wind, saying ‘I’m Batman!’.

That would be so cool! I would be so cool.

And a bit embarrassed too. But hey, I was pretty much cosplaying as a Witch right now, wasn’t I? Nothing was wrong with taking it one step further and becoming a superhero— even though I had no plans to be one.

Maybe someone like Felix— the Plague Doctor— could have been considered this world’s version of a superhero; he had a secret identity, a secret power, and went around altruistically saving people. On the other hand, I was trying to survive, and maybe help people along the way if I could. I was not going to find trouble, but if I stumbled upon it, maybe I would help. Maybe.

But for now, I was going to focus on getting the funds required to bring me to the Taw Kingdom without any issue, to maybe see if I could find some sort of sanctuary in that Dwarven country. And the current best option to do that was to become a Hunter, which required me to get a mask.

It was not a surefire method to achieve my goal; I would adjust my plans according to how things played out. But right now, I felt like I had to at least try to become a Hunter proper, before giving up on this possible avenue towards relieving my financial worries. Which was why I was asking the wagon driver so many questions even though he was visibly annoyed by it.

"I told you, I don’t know. Why would I know where to get a mask in this city? I just come here to sell my wares, that’s all," he snapped back at me.

"Sorry, I was just curious. But do you know if blacksmiths make masks? Or potters?" I inquired with a neutral voice, trying not to further irritate the man.

"I. Don’t. Know." I smiled politely as he shot me a glare. "There’s probably shops for that in the market. Go ask your questions there. Now stop talking to me or I’ll kick you out."

"I see, thank you."

I laid back down on the back of the man’s cart. The wagon driver folded his arms in clear displeasure, as he muttered under his breath.

"Sacred piss, if I wasn’t so damned nice, I wouldn’t have to deal with this shit. I just wanted to enjoy my day, but no— because of all those Monsters attacks recently, I just had to give her a ride…"

Mhm, I’m not giving this guy ten bronze for this, I resolved myself. I was still going to pay him, but his overall attitude made me decide against generously spending my limited funds— even if it was recently replenished somewhat— for him.

And speaking of what the wagon driver said, that was supposedly a thing going on right now: Monsters were coming down the Incen Mountain Range in large swathes and attacking travelers more recently as of late. It was the talk of anyone who had any business going anywhere beyond their city’s perimeters, since this was directly related to them and their safety.

Personally, I had not run into many Monsters while on the road; a group of Horned Rabbits was the only thing that has attacked me. And although they were quite fast, I took care of them without the need to use magic. I also ran into the occasional Giant Wasps (not to be confused with the Japanese giant hornet since these were literally the size of my head), which thankfully, were not aggressive without due cause.

However, all these Monsters were native to the area. Even the Kobolds— which were these large dog-like creatures that I encountered once— had a home in most climates, so that was not an unusual meeting for me to have had. So while I did believe that there was an increased threat from these migrating Monsters, it was not something that I was worried about at all.

Rather, I was more concerned about the thing that was forcing these Monsters out of their homes. People I have spoken to seem to think that there was an Abomination infestation up in the part of the Incen Mountain Range that was in Laxis, which spurred these deadly creatures to come down. And if I had to garner a guess, I would agree with them.

I remembered clearly the time I was attacked by a Chimera back in Villamcreek. Adrian and I were walking to the village, and that massive Monster suddenly leapt at us; I had attributed that event to the increased Monster activity in our area at the time, but never once stopped to consider what could have caused the cause to the event that caused me and my mom’s plan to escape to fail.

There were a lot of causes, but it all led back to one thing— that stupid jerk god!

I felt annoyed whenever I heard about the Abominations, specifically because it made me remember him. It was because of him, my mom was dead. And because of him, hundreds and thousands of people lay dead— even if a majority of the ones in Besha who died deserved it.

I just wanted to focus on anything but the thing, that related to the thing, that related to the thing, which, after a few more things, would bring my thoughts to that false god. And luckily for me, a peculiar thing happened which managed to draw my attention for a moment.

"Oi, watch it!" the wagon driver yelled, as his horses reeled, causing the cart to jerk.

I sat up, confused as to what was going on. I peeked over the box I was leaning on, to see what was happening. And as I did, I heard a shout back.

"Shut it, you stupid Human! I go where I want!"

There was a slight accent to the voice; it was male, and clearly rougher than even the roughest Human men I’ve met, and there was a certain inflection to it which made it sound serious and not so serious at the same time. Unfortunately for me, I barely got a glance at the man as they continued down the road in the direction we came from. But what I managed to see told me a lot.

The first thing I noticed was that whoever it was, was not driving a wagon, or even a car. He was on what looked like… a scooter? Or a bike. But with three wheels instead of two, with a black and gold color scheme to it, and it was emitting a lot of white gas from its back.

And while the plume of smoke obscured the driver slightly as they got further and further away rather quickly, I could make out their figure— the second thing I noticed— even still. They seemed short, stocky, and— well, there was no point trying to make out the rest of his appearance, since he was quite clearly a Dwarf.

Blinking, I watched as the Dwarf drove into the distance, as our wagon resumed trotting down the road at a much slower pace than him. "...was that a Dwarf?" I asked, turning to the driver.

The man seemed to consider my question; he craned his neck up, then around to face me. He looked me dead in the eyes, and spoke slowly.

"Get. Out."

Right, he told me he would do that if I spoke to him again. Forgot about that.

And then I watched as both the wagon and the Dwarf disappeared into the distance.

At least I don’t have to pay him, right?

It was a net gain for me, since not only did I not have to pay that jerk of a wagon driver, but he was apparently so irate, he did not realize how close we were to the city of Locke before he kicked me out of his cart. So as I passed by the man who was stopped to have his wares inspected at the gates, I made sure to give him my sweetest smile and my most heartfelt thanks for the free ride. Then I ignored his outraged complaints as I entered the city without an issue.

Maybe I was being petty; he did let me on his cart, after all. But it took quite a bit of convincing, and even then, he chastised me over every little thing. He scolded me for sitting wrong, for God’s sake!

I understood what it was like to be an awkward passenger who did not want to speak to their taxi driver; if speaking rudely to me was all he did, I would not have been so vindictive. Maybe he was having a bad day, but thanks to him I was having a bad day as well.

Relative to the last few weeks, of course. I had far worse days than being yelled at by some grumpy middle aged man just because I was a kid. But I was just repaying him in kind— objectively speaking, I did say ‘thank you’, did I not?

Whatever the case was, I was inside of Locke as the sun just left the highest point in the sky. It was an hour or two after noon, and I wanted to find an inn quickly to keep my belongings in. So I made my way to the nearest inn— nothing fancy, I currently had no reason to splurge on something as unnecessary as luxury when I still had no stable income.

After getting a room, dropping off my stuff, and answering the usual questions I got such as ‘where’s your parents?’ and ‘are you sure you can afford it?’— which was par for the course— I finally began my search for a place to acquire my mask.

As mentioned before, Locke was a city. A proper city, even if it was not too big. And unlike the Free Lands which was slightly technologically behind the rest of the world due to the embargo between most of the Free Cities and the Holy Xan Empire, this place actually sold stuff.

I passed by a Tinkerer's shop, and stopped by their open display; they had a variety of items out in view, including a little music box playing a nice relaxing tune. It had a small mana crystal at its wooden base instead of a protruding metal cylinder to wind it up with. It played its music nonstop, and the little figurine in the center never stopped dancing.

It seemed to remain active until you turned it off, since it was powered by mana. Considering this, I had expected such an object to be rather expensive, so I was surprised to see that it was only being sold for two silver coins.

That was hardly a significant amount— I had to pay even more than that to simply enter the country. Up until this point, I was under the impression that mana tools generally cost a lot of money; I had expected anything that was made using mana would require gold coins. In fact, ignoring what I had seen in the Free Lands— since the supply of mana tools there were significantly lower because of aforementioned reasons— I vividly recalled Adrian telling me that his father’s pistol was expensive, costing several gold coins to even procure, while requiring silver to maintain.

I was perplexed by this for a moment; there was not as much disparity in the complexity of how basic weaponry was made versus regular daily use tools (unlike back on Earth where guns were a lot more meticulous in design compared to everyday items). But after contemplating on this for a mere second, I came to the rather simple conclusion to this dilemma.

Duh, guns need more energy. I’m stoopid.

That meant that the mana crystals of weapons were far more dense than the ones used for something like a music box. Satisfied with my totally, completely, like literally epoch-making revelation, I continued down the market street, searching for a place to buy masks.

Unfortunately, as I had expected, the only mask shop I could find sold performance masks— masks which had an intricate design, but absolutely no durability to it. And worse off was how some of them covered barely any parts of my face, while others were completely oversized, stretching up to the tip of my pointed hat.

So I gave up on that endeavor, and asked the shop owner for directions to the nearest smith. The man not only helpfully did so, but he even was nice enough to offer some recommendations when I told him what I was looking for.

"That sounds like a battle mask. I hear some people use light metals or other materials like part of a Monster’s shell, and enhance its durability with mana crystals to protect their face in war. Although I don’t see why you wouldn’t wear a regular helmet if that’s the case," said the shopkeep, before raising his brow in confusion. "Why’re you asking though?"

"Oh, I’m just curious," I answered politely, then bowed my head. "Thank you for the help."

"Sure, no problem little Miss."

With that, I eventually found myself at a smith. Not a blacksmith, since those only work with iron. But a smith. Someone who worked with all kinds of metals, and even other materials that were hard and malleable. The burly man gave me an odd look when I first arrived, but after some quick deflection and steering the topic to what I wanted to buy, I was on track to getting what I wanted.

"Hm, from what you’re asking me, mithril sounds like it’d be a good fit. Unfortunately, my supply of it is pretty low, making it more expensive, even considering the small size of this… mask."

"How much are we looking at?" I asked.

"I’d say roughly 30 gold? Just for a simple thin mask the size of your face," the smith replied, to which I nearly sputtered.

30 gold? That’s literally all my money! Luckily, I managed to keep my face cool, although I could feel my hand instinctively cover my coin pouch protectively.

"I-I see," I said, voice hiding a tinge of hesitation. I cast a glance around the room, trying to see if anything else caught my eye, while hinting at the man that I could not afford it. "Uh, do you have anything else? That’s light, and slightly durable? It doesn’t have to be the strongest material, just enough not to break from a drop to the floor."

"Well, if you’re not limiting yourself to just metals, I’d say go for some wisened wood, but those are on the pricier side of things too." The smith scratched his head, thinking it over. "If you don’t mind Monster parts, I’d say go for something like a String Scorpion’s shell for something hard, or a Horned Wolf’s pelt if you prefer something leathery. For the latter, it’s not easy to scratch and tear, but you just have to get a frame for it made so it’d fit on your face. However, if the frame is not good, any blunt force could break it and it’ll fall off easily— which I suppose is not something you want?"

"I’d prefer if that wasn’t the case."

"Good, since I don’t have those in stock anyways," the smith said with a laugh. "I’d have to direct you to a tanner, and I don’t want to chase away any potential business!"

"Of course not," I agreed with him. "So how much would it cost to get a mask made from that?"

"I don’t have much in stock, but the thing is, it’s all leftovers from years ago since no one ever wants to buy parts from things like a scorpion or a spider. They don’t mind wearing the skin of a cow as everyday clothing, but when it’s from a spider? Suddenly, they go running for their lives. Even though silk is made from worms..." the smith trailed off with a sigh, and walked over to a box. He began rummaging through it as he continued. "Since you’re showing to be a brave young girl for daring to wear parts from a scorpion's shell, I’d give you a discount. Let’s say— 4 gold for the whole thing?"

"I’ll make it 5 if you can get it done before sunset," I said simply.

The smith grinned, holding up a large gray plate. "Deal. It’s easier to work with than metal. I don’t even have to melt it down! Just got to cut out the right size, then heat it up a little bit. So you’ll see it finished in three hours, how about that?"

"Sounds good to me." I smiled, as the man began calling for his apprentices; he was about to start discussing something with the two young men, when I added. "By the way, could you leave two small holes for some mana crystals?"

"I could do that without a problem. But what for, though?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I want to get a tinkerer to enchant it. Make it stronger, at least."

"Something custom like that would probably cost you a few more gold, are you sure you can afford that and the mask itself?"

"I’m sure," I said, meeting his uncertain gaze. That seemed to convince him, as he just shrugged.

"Suit yourself. You can probably find someone who can do that over on the west side of Locke. Not sure specifically about hardening, but there’s plenty of tinkerers there since that’s where the Hunters Guild and Mercenaries Guild are located."

I thanked the smith, bowing my head slightly and tipping my hat as I did. Then I walked down a few streets before I found the shop I wanted; there I bought two crystals of about the same size, light blue in color. It was cheap, costing only me only a few silver coins. Certainly not what you’d expect from a mana crystal that would permanently strengthen the hardness of an object.

And that was because it was not a mana crystal. I bought myself some cheap quartz.

While I appreciated the advice the smith gave me, there was one thing that he did not consider. And it was that I could do magic.

I had studied every single book I owned in the past few months, and practiced every spell that not only interested me, but could be done in the privacy of my own room; some of them I had extensively read on, but due to the nature of the spells, I was unable to actually cast them without alerting people of my ‘heretical’ nature.

Enchanting was one such school of magic I could practice without such a problem.

Temporary magical enchantments were easier to learn than permanent ones; it took me a while to learn— about three days— but I eventually mastered how to do a simple Hardness spell. It was one of the ‘intermediate’ Enchantment spells available in the generalist grimoire I had. Which also meant that it was one of the hardest spells in that book to learn, since it mostly covered the basics.

I learned the spell to permanently increase the durability of my clothing, even if it was less effective on softer materials. But I did not want my clothes to tear and get damaged over every little thing, considering that I spent good money on it. And that rationale luckily paid off now, since I did not have to pay extra for someone else to do something with mana crystals what I already could do for free and with magic.

So after a nice, hearty meal, I returned to the smith and waited there until my mask was ready. I gave him the quartz— telling him they were mana crystals— and had him insert them to fit nicely onto the front of the mask. With that final touch, it was finally finished.

I handed the smith his gold, and headed back to the inn where I quickly enchanted it. The two crystals were there to give the idea that my mask was tinkered with, so they would not question anything if they ever discovered that it was significantly tougher than it should have been. Plus, it also added a bit of flair to the otherwise dull gray object.

I picked up the mask, inspecting it for a moment: it was an oval about the size of my face, there were two holes where my eyes would be— obviously so I could see— and a thin slit lower down, probably to make it easier for me to breathe. The two crystals laid on the left and right sides, about where the edge of my cheekbone would have been located if the mask were my face.

I casted my spell, enchanting the face covering before I finally donned it. I quickly got changed to my hooded clothes, to maybe hide my hair at least. Then, wearing my mask over my face, I headed to the Hunters Guild.

It was not a long walk, but with the amount of time that passed, it was already evening when I arrived at the building. I walked past the evening crowd, walking straight into the branch without any hesitation.

I knew how things went; I was used to it, in fact. But this time, things were going to be different. So I approached the front desk, as the clerk stared inquisitively at me. I placed a hand on the table, leaning forwards and tip toeing slightly as I smiled underneath my mask.

"Hi, I’d like to register as a Hunter, please."

Well then, let’s see what you guys got for me.

Chapter 12: Rematch

To be perfectly honest, I had expected it; from the very beginning, I had known it would had made little difference. The mask served other purposes, of course. But for this? Well…

"I’m sorry, little Miss—"

"Miss," I interrupted the woman, emphasizing the word clearly for all to hear.

"Uh, right." The receptionist hesitantly nodded. She gave me an apologetic smile, and continued. "As I was saying, Miss. The Hunters Guild does not allow anyone under the age of 16 to register as a Hunter, so unless you can provide any documentation of your legal age, we can’t give you a license."

"So Goblins aren’t allowed to become a Hunter? Because I’m pretty sure they’re already old and dying at that age."

That was a lie. A blatant lie which anyone who knew even a little bit about Goblins would know; however I was hedging on the fact that this was a Human country. Maybe people here could have seen the occasional Goblin once in a while, but I doubted that they knew too much about their biology.

I was wrong.

"I understand what you’re trying to say, little— uh, Miss. But Goblins can live for more than 30 years," she said, the smile slowly slipping from her face.

Honestly, I should have realized that the spread of information in this world was not the equivalent of the middle ages back on Earth the moment I saw the television in the corner of the room. Not a plasma screen TV, of course— it was a large wooden box with a small screen, and had two antennae sticking out at an angle from the top. I knew they existed in this world, but it was still my first time seeing one, which told me that they were not quite common just yet.

Unsure what to say next, I began grasping at straws. "What about Elves? Can they become Hunters when they’re barely even a teen? Or Dwarves, huh?"

"Miss, our regulations regarding joining the Hunters Guild clearly covers all these points. As you said, Goblins mature faster, so they’re allowed to become a Hunter at age 10. Elves are double that at age 20. And while Dwarves do live longer than Humans, it’s by a negligible enough margin that we apply the same rules for Humans to them. Same goes for most other species, which is why 16 is the general age required to register with us. The rest are exceptions." The woman took a deep breath, and sighed. "And forgive me for assuming, but I don’t think you’re either Elf or Goblin. Not that being the former would help your case at any rate."

I raised an eyebrow, only to realize I was doing it under my mask. Then I shook my head so she could clearly see my displeasure. "And how exactly am I going to prove that? I don’t have any identification."

"If you can just take off your mask to prove you’re a Goblin, I’m sure there would be no problems whatsoever."

"...who said I was a Goblin?"

I saw the receptionist’s eye twitch, and I could not blame her for it; I was being incredibly frustrating to deal with, so maybe she would relent and register me as a Hunter, regardless of whether I was telling the truth or not.

"You did, Miss. You quite clearly implied it to me."

"No I did not," I said simply.

With the last of her strength, the woman managed to muster up a strained smile as she asked the logical question to follow. "If not Goblin or Human, what are you then?"

"..."

She waited for a response, but never got one. I am exercising my right to remain silent! Unfortunately, I was not in America, so it did not work. The receptionist finally had enough.

"Well, Miss, if you can’t provide any identification to me and you don’t want to tell me whether you’re a Human, Goblin, or just an annoying child, I would have to ask you to leave."

"Can’t I just—"

"Come on, little Miss. Stop harassing the poor lady. You’ve had your fun, you can go home now." A voice came from behind me; I turned around to see who it was, and saw a man casually approach me from a table. "I know you kids love to play your little pranks, and I found it quite entertaining for the first five minutes. But it’s been over a quarter of an hour now. You’re just making Agnes’ job more difficult now— she already has to deal with us every night!"

There were a few snickers, and even the receptionist snorted. I cast a quick glance around the room, taking in the scene at the Hunters Guild for the first time since I arrived. Unlike the smaller branches I went to before— which basically just had a front desk, a board filled possible job offers, and a few tables and chairs— the lobby for Locke’s Hunters Guild actually incentivized Hunters to hang around.

The layout was very similar to a tavern: there was a bar in the corner of the room with some barrels of what I assumed to be beer, and a proper waiting staff going in and out of the back to bring out simple food and drinks. And, as previously mentioned, there was a television at the front, although it seemed to be either turned off right now or broken.

While there was space at the front desk for multiple receptionists, only one was on duty right now. It was quite empty in general, with only a few groups of Hunters mulling about the room. Either the Hunters Guild was falling on tough times, or fewer people came in during the night for whatever reason. Regardless, everyone in the room seemed to agree with the man when he told me to leave.

"It’s late, little Miss—"

"Miss."

"Whatever, little Miss. It’s time for you to go home to your parents. They’re probably getting worried sick for you," the man said, patting me on the back.

"I’m not leaving until I become a Hunter." I stood, both my feet firmly planted on the ground.

"You don’t want to become a Hunter, little Miss. It’s a dangerous job. Me and my friends get into trouble all the time. Why, just the other day I almost lost my right hand to a Kobold! It’s definitely not something you should ever get into, even as an adult."

"Why are you a Hunter then?" I asked, giving the man a blank stare. Well, as blank of a stare I could give beneath my mask; even with the holes for me to see with, my eyes were pretty obscured and not visible to everyone unless they really peered into it.

"Because we’re a bunch of broke idiots who can’t get a better job," he laughed.

No, you’re a bunch of broke jerks who can’t just leave a girl alone!

...well, maybe I was the one being the jerk here. The man was genuinely concerned for my safety, and he was only trying to help the receptionist who I had been bothering for a while now. Still, I folded my arms, refusing to move.

"And who says I’m not a broke idiot who can’t get a better job?"

"Well you could always apprentice with this friend of mine. If you want, I can introduce you—"

"Not happening," I said, voice final.

The man heaved a sigh. "Listen, I know you hear stories about how amazing of a job being a Hunter is, but let me tell you as a real professional Hunter— it’s not a fun job at all. When you’re out there, fighting Monsters, you’re putting your life in the line just to earn a little bit of gold. And these aren’t like your everyday animals, they’re ferocious beasts that can kill you in an instant."

There were a few murmurs of agreement coming from the Hunters in the room.

"For the last two weeks, a Chimera has been terrorizing the nearby towns and villages outside of Locke. Even with the increased security from both town guards and the Hunters Guild, it’s still out there right now, having killed two Hunters and dozens of innocent people. This is not a job for children. Please, never become a Hunter."

His eyebrows arched darkly over his eyes, as if he were repressing a grim memory. I saw the man’s expression. I glanced about the room, noticing the overcast looks on almost everybody’s faces. Then, I whispered.

"...Chimera."

The man blinked. "Did you say something?"

"I said: what towns have been getting attacked by this Chimera?"

"Oh, it’s just a bit to the northeast of here— wait, why do you want to know that? Where are you going?"

The man called out after me, but I ignored him; there was no point in talking anymore. Arguing with words solved very little when there was no evidence to back it up. So I was going to procure just the evidence I needed.

I headed out of the city of Locke, and to the towns in the northeast. The city’s gates did not close at night, so I was not worried about being locked out if I did try to return.

I stopped some guards before leaving, getting a more specific direction as to where the Chimera might have been. I was vague with it, of course; they would not have told me anything otherwise. After I followed the road they pointed me in for a few hours, I found myself in a village that looked like it provided the food to the city.

I asked some more questions there— once again, in a roundabout way so as to not raise any suspicion— before entering a forest where someone most recently disappeared two days ago. I wandered around for a few more hours, more lost than anything. Maybe I would not have found anything, or maybe I would have. Considering how things usually went for me, I believed that it would be the latter tonight; but on that same token, getting attacked by a Monster was not exactly considered good fortune. So when I finally saw something in the shadow of the night, I was not really sure whether to thank my luck, or curse it.

There was a glint of light, and I knew it was there. Just like the first time I was attacked by a Chimera, the Monster came out from between the bushes. It had lain low in waiting, so that despite being bigger than a lion, it remained stealthy.

I brought a hand up, and a magical barrier flashed into existence. The Chimera bounced off the blue shield, confused as to where it had come from. It backed up quickly, as I released the spell, drawing both weapons on my belt. A pistol and a dagger. And with that, I stood across from the Monster as it cautiously inspected me with its glowing eyes from afar.

So you’re that stupid dumb idiot Chimera that’s been terrorizing these people.

Just like last time, its goat head was mounted on a lion’s body. Its snake-like tail was thrashing wildly at its back, as it took a step forward, seemingly coming to the conclusion that I was not a threat. It was large. Bigger than any lion. But I thought it was smaller than the one I last saw. Or maybe I had just gotten bigger since then; that would have made more sense, considering kids my age grew quite a lot in a few months. And, speaking of growth…

The last time I fought a Chimera, I was completely overwhelmed, even with a pistol and with Adrian helping me. Sure, I ended up killing it in the end. But it did not feel like a victory. Not when I lost my arm, and would have lost my life if not for my mom.

Maybe it was a draw; that would have been the most fair assessment of the battle’s outcome. But still, I was not an impartial judge. To me, it felt as though I lost against the Chimera.

So it was finally time for the rematch. And this time, I thought to myself with a flip of my gray dagger, and a grin spreading across my hidden face. I’m not going to lose.

The Chimera bounded at me, lashing out with its tail. I managed to fire a single shot before the snakehead struck the ground where I was standing, but I had seen the attack coming. I was no longer there.

I dashed forward at the charging Monster. It bared its fangs at me in an arrogant smile. It was still over ten paces away. Even more, for a regular Human. But in one giant leap, it covered the distance in an instant.

I dodged the Chimera as it pounced at me. I leaned out of the way and took a big step to the right. I held my dagger out as the Chimera just barely missed me. Putting all my strength into this one swing, I slashed at the moving Monster.

I felt the blade connect. I was nearly knocked off balance just from the force of its pull alone. But I steadied myself. My dagger left a long horizontal gash across the Chimera’s side. It landed with a stumble, hurt by the attack, but not badly wounded.

Blood dripped from the tip of my dagger. The magically enchanted blade was able to do far more damage than a simple pistol. The jagged edge only served to worsen the damage, but not enough to kill it. And yet, I knew that that was not a clean hit— it was only a given that striking a moving target was not as easy as striking an unmoving one.

If I had either been more skillful or stronger, I knew that I would have been able to sink the blade even deeper. Perhaps enough to have impeded its movements. But as of right now, the Chimera was still moving without any difficulty. Just, wary.

The Chimera backed up, cautiously circling around me as I stood my ground. It was looking for an opening, I could tell. It let out a roar. Its entire body jerked back as if it was about to jump at me—

But instead, a fireball shot out of its mouth.

A regular fireball. Not a Fireball. But even still, that was still dangerous. I would have fallen for the feint if I did not sense the mana building up in its stomach. Apparently there was some magical aspect to that attack, which only made sense since there was no way a normal living thing could do that.

I rolled out of the way, as the ball of flames continued to a tree at the back. It did not explode as much as it engulfed the area in flames, catching fire to the surrounding bushes.

I was just getting back to my feet when the Chimera reached me. It came at me like a wild dog, clawing, biting—

And I stabbed at its eye. The Chimera just barely jerked out of the way. The dagger struck it across the face regardless, and Monster reeled. It spun around, whipping its tail at me. But I simply ducked under it as it overextended. And with a simple swing of the blade, I felt my dagger cut through the leathery skin of a snake.

Except, it was not a snake. It was a snake-like tail. The one that was part of the Chimera… well, used to be a part of the Chimera.

I severed the Chimera’s tail in that single swing, causing it to stagger. But I did not let up. I ran forwards at the Monster, dodging it as it swung a claw at me in a panicked state. I leaned out of the way, slashing at its limb as it narrowly missed me.

I managed to get another strike into the Chimera before it leapt back, away from me by a good 20 feet. It once again opened its mouth, readying a fireball to blast me with. But I had seen that trick before. In fact, I already knew how to counter it.

I simply held up the gun on my other hand and fired it. The bullet struck the fireball while it was still within the Monster’s jaw, causing it to blast out at its own face. The Chimera flinched. Damaged by its own attack, and its vision blocked by the smoke covering its face.

It could not see. So it was not prepared for me when I swung at it again. My dagger plunged it deeper than before, getting a proper hit in on the Chimera for once. It tried to strike back at me, but I easily countered it once again.

The Monster helplessly tried to fight back, but it was no use. Whenever it swung at me, I countered it. Whenever it tried to send a fireball at me, I blew it up in its mouth. And if I did not— could not— dodge an attack, the one time I parried, my dagger actually cut into the Chimera’s claws instead.

I had known that Chimera’s had a keen intelligence to them when I first met one. One that gave it the ability to cruelly taunt its opponents, and one that would surely tell it when to flee. And right now, it was seriously considering the latter.

The Chimera swiped one paw at me, but I easily ducked under it. It was slower now. More tired. I brought my dagger up at its neck, cutting open a light wound at a vital spot of the Monster. I was about to follow up with a second swing to make an ‘X’ shape, but the Chimera bounded away once again.

I had whittled it down, slowly. Over time, its movement became more sluggish, and its attacks became weaker. Its jump only covered half of the distance it did when I first saw it, despite putting all its efforts to get away from me. The Chimera had lost its tail, and was now bleeding from multiple cuts on its legs and sides. With that final strike to the neck, it must have decided it had enough.

The Monster spun around, the remaining half of its tail between its hind legs, and... it ran.

"Oh no you don’t—"

I raised a hand, and the spell I held at my fingertips the entire time manifested. The very same spell Victor used so often, one of the many I had learned during the months I was traveling alone in the Free Lands.

A blade of wind shot out, moving faster than the injured creature. It struck the Monster from behind, going through a quarter of the way before stopping. It did not slice it completely in half like I thought it would, but it was enough to instantly kill the Chimera.

It dropped dead where it stood, and I walked up to its corpse. I could have used magic the entire time— and I was prepared to use magic just in case— but I had fought a Chimera before; I had killed one before, even without magic. This was just a test to see whether I could do it again.

And, as I pulled my hood down to wipe some sweat off the side of my head, I was pretty sure I passed the test. Considering that I did so without getting grievously wounded, and with only a few scratches across my body, I was pretty sure I did so with flying colors.

I glanced down at the dead Chimera. At the Monster that was almost ten foot in length, probably weighing a thousand pounds. Then I realized the folly of my ways.

...how am I supposed to bring you back?

It was morning. Or rather, dawn. This was an important time of the day for most people. It was when farmers got up to plough their fields, when gatherers went out to collect their herbs, and when hunters went out to catch their prey.

But truth be told, that mattered more so in the village than in the city. Cityfolk did begin their day early, but not to follow nature’s schedule as they went about their day. Instead, they created an artificial schedule to follow, one where a regular person would miss all the hustle and bustle which would inevitably lead to the loss of opportunities.

Such a thing— a construct of peoples’ affairs— was what the Hunters of the city had to follow. They did not just hunt animals for their pelts or meat to sell or eat. These Hunters were part of the Hunters Guild, and were tasked with Monster extermination, bodyguarding rich nobles from Monsters, or selling off prized Monster parts to the guild or in an auction.

As was quite obviously spelled out, Hunters mostly dealt with Monsters. Not all the time, of course. But generally speaking, if a Hunter was involved, surely Monsters had to be involved as well. And with being in such danger all the time, it was no wonder so many Hunters would want to take the easier, safer jobs.

Because of that, the Hunters Guild was almost always most packed in the morning. Hunters came in searching for a job that was posted overnight, that they hoped was good and safe. If there were none— which generally was the case, since such jobs did not just appear into existence every single night— they would wait until someone came in with a job they found appealing. And like a pack of wolves— which was ironic, considering the metaphor and their jobs— the Hunters would pounce on the job, trying to be the first one to get it.

Some Hunters were even willing to accept less pay than others to get the jobs they wanted. This would lead to arguing and bickering, which would end up with a receptionist calling the Guild Master/Mistress down, and sometimes involving the job-posters themselves to make the final decision. Today was no different.

Two teams of Hunters were huddled around the job board, arguing over who should be the one to take the request to exterminate a group of Horned Rabbits, as other Hunter teams or individual Hunters watched on with mild amusement, and some with boredom, desensitized to such a common scene. The first team believed they had won the task on a first-come-first-serve basis, which was generally how it worked. But the second team had been there all night, and they were unhappy that no one informed them that such a job had even been posted while they were there.

The Guild Master had just arrived, and was trying to resolve the dispute, although he was failing pretty bad at it. One of the receptionists, a woman called Agnes, had just finished working the night shift, and was definitely not going to butt into this pointless argument, opting to quietly leave instead.

However, just as that was about to happen, there was a sudden commotion. No— not the one from inside the building. But from outside of the Hunters Guild.

There were sharp gasps. People— both Hunters and regular cityfolk alike— began to gather in a crowd and whisper to one another. The source of whatever was causing the disturbance slowly made its way closer to the building, before finally, a figure appeared at the doorway.

It might have been a child. Or it might have just been a really short and thin man. Or an emaciated Half Dwarf. Or even a Goblin, rare as they were in Laxis. But it did not matter.

Whoever it was had a hood up, and was wearing a mask to cover their face. Furthermore, it seemed as though they had just come from a fight, since their clothes were stained with blood and gore. And while that was not exactly an unusual scene in the Hunters Guild, what the hooded figure brought with them was indeed quite odd.

It was the head of a Chimera.

The exact same Monster that had a bounty on it for the last two weeks, yet no one had completed. The child, or Goblin, or whatever they were, dragged the head slowly across the floor of the Hunters Guild, approaching the front desk.

The severed head, which was still leaking some blood, left quite a mess behind as the hooded figure finally reached the receptionist. Everyone in the guild had already stopped what they were doing, even the two bickering groups and the Guild Master, turning to see this masked person as they hefted the Chimera’s head onto the long table.

The receptionist just stared down at the head in shock, before being startled by a sudden noise. The masked person jammed a dagger down into the Chimera’s skull, squirting more blood out of its side and onto the wooden desk.

"Wh— huh? What do you want?"

"Hi," Melas said loud enough for all to hear. Then with a deep breath, she repeated her opening line from 12 hours ago. "I’d like to register as a Hunter, please."

She glanced about the expressions plastered on everyone's face across the room, stopping only at Agnes as she gaped back at the little girl. Seeing that, Melas felt her lips curl into a smile beneath her mask.

She was satisfied. Content. Because she knew now that she had won the rematch.

Chapter 13: Bestiary

Even now, it was never as easy as you thought it would be; simply handing over a Chimera’s head was not sufficient enough for one to become a Hunter. Sure, this Monster had been a problem plaguing them for almost a month. But how could they know that I was the one that killed it? They needed proof, and proof was… easy to get.

There were multiple types of evidence that could be brought into the court of law, and I had three of them available to me right now. The first was real evidence— which was the Chimera’s head itself that I had brought into the Hunters Guild. It was real, and it was right there; there was no arguing against such a thing.

The second piece of evidence was testimonial evidence: ranging from the villagers who thanked me, to the guards who saw me leave Locke the night before, I had plenty of witnesses to corroborate my story of what happened. Even the bystanders who saw me drag the decapitated bleeding skull of the Chimera served to further my case that I was the one who killed it.

And finally, the last one, demonstrated evidence, was just a pain in the ass for me. Because I had to convince the Guild Master that I was the one who killed the Chimera; give an explanation as to why I did it without first registering with the Hunters Guild; and tell them why I even wanted to be a Hunter in the first place.

Of course, this was not the court of law, so none of this really mattered; what mattered was what the judge and the jury thought, and unfortunately, this man sitting skeptically across from me played both roles.

"And why can’t you just… remove your mask?" the Guild Master of Locke’s Hunters Guild asked.

"Because of various reasons," I said, opting not to reveal more than that.

The man pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. He was an elderly gentleman. If I had to guess, I would say he was about 60 years old, past the age of retirement. Apparently he had been a Hunter once, but that did not mean he had a brash and arrogant personality as a Guild Master. In fact, he was very polite and kept trying to understand things from my perspective; though he still insisted on verifying my identity.

"I know that not every"— he looked me once over— "individual has a way to prove they are who they say they are. Photographic identification has only come a few decades ago, and the Hunters Guild itself has only started the transition, rolling out such changes slowly over time. But surely you should at least have some form of identification. I know that… Goblins… from the Sharan Enclave are all issued certificates at birth. Not that I’m assuming that you’re one, of course."

"Mhm, but not all Goblins are from there, are they?"

"Of course not. And neither am I assuming that you’re a Goblin. Just…" the Guild Master trailed off. He took a sip from the cup of black liquid.

It was coffee. Dark, bitter, coffee. Not to my tastes, so I had a glass of water— although I did not drink from it because of my mask.

"The Hunters Guild just needs proof that you’re not some sort of criminal, Miss. Like, say, a piece of paper from the temple you were born in?"

"I was not born in a temple," I said simply.

"Hm, of course. So are you from a small village then? A farm of some sorts?" he asked, uncertainly scratching his gray beard. "Or— no… but maybe…"

"What is it?" I titled my head to the side, as the man leaned back, folding his arms.

"Miss… could you possibly be from the Free Lands? Our country has been accepting some refugees, and it used to be a completely open border until we were overwhelmed, but that would explain your predicament."

I nodded slowly, not really sure where he was going with this or what he meant. "And so what if I am?"

"Well, if you’re really a refugee, or even just from the Free Lands, the Hunters Guild has special circumstances regarding it. You see, the Free Cities are considered to be— and I do apologize if you take offense at this— backwards. As you know, they do partake in slavery, and some regions even condoned child intercourse— although the latter does apply to the Puer Kingdom as well— but because of these reasons, and the various conflicts they tend to have with their neighbors, trade with them is… limited."

"They don’t get much mana tools, right?" I asked to confirm.

"Indeed. When the Mana Revolution first began, they did get access to such tools and weapons without a problem since they did play their part in sending troops for the Final Holy war. But once it was over, the Holy Xan Empire and other countries halted the exports of all such items to them, for it was believed slavery was a violation of the Holy Law to never inflict great suffering upon others. Their military stayed strong since they were attacked so often, but in regards to the standard of living… well, they are lagging behind rather significantly if I had to say so myself."

And that meant photo identifications were not a thing, and identity documents themselves were not so pervasive. I was not sure if the Guild Master genuinely believed I was some sort of refugee, or if he was simply throwing me a bone here, but I took my chance.

"...I did come from the Free Lands. As a refugee, from the eastern border of Laxis," I lied by omission. And thankfully, the Guild Master did not ask me to elaborate.

"Good, good. So in accordance with our rules regarding refugees… aha, you simply have to provide proof that you are qualified to be a Hunter. Normally, that’s a vague criteria which requires us to simply confirm you are physically capable of taking care of yourself— which can easily be done from knowing your age. And while that’s not possible with you however, that"— the man and I craned our necks to look at the head of the dead Chimera sitting on a table— "does prove you are fit for this job, and we would not just be letting you get yourself killed. So I believe it’s settled then."

I smiled at that. Only when I realized I was wearing a mask and he could not see me did I quickly give a curt nod. "I do believe it is."

"It’s not a problem at all, Miss. Now to get you licensed…" the Guild Master trailed off. "Hm, unfortunately we’ll have to draft you one of our old contracts. Unless you suddenly feel like having a picture taken of your face would not be a problem?"

When I shook my head, he continued.

"Of course. As one of the bigger branches of the Hunters Guild, all the forms we have currently prepared are for the new ID cards— which require a photograph to be taken of you— and we won’t be able to use those. If you don’t mind returning in an hour or two, we’ll have all the documents prepared for your license to be complete. You’ll just have to pay the registration fee of a single silver, which can be subtracted off your reward from killing the Chimera."

"And how much is that?" I asked, pleasantly surprised that I was actually getting paid; I was not a registered Hunter when I did that job, so I was fully expecting them to withhold payment due to some sort of minor loophole.

"We’ll have to check what our last posted offer was, but I believe it was somewhere in the range of 10 gold? Maybe slightly less," the Guild Master answered, getting up from his seat and offering out a hand. "I’m glad we could resolve that issue, Miss."

I gratefully accepted it, bowing my head slightly. "Thank you, Sir. I appreciate your help." I was unsure at first, but now I knew he was trying to help me the entire time— even if he still had to ensure all the rules were properly followed. Maybe I should stop being so rude. I’ve been a bit of a jerk for the past few days.

"It’s no problem at all. I’m always happy to accept a new Hunter, especially one who got rid of a problem that has been weighing down on us for weeks."

With that, I politely exited the Guild Masters office, resolving to be a nicer person; although I could not blame myself for having been a little bit annoyed at consistently getting rejected from becoming a Hunter, I should not have taken it out on people just doing their jobs. Instead, I should have taken it out on Chimeras going around and killing innocent people.

I hate Chimeras.

This might come off as surprising, but nearly dying was not a fun experience.

The lobby of the Hunters Guild was emptier now than it was an hour ago when I first arrived; it was still full of dozens of Hunters looking through the job board, discussing their plans for the day, or just going about their business, but it was noticeably less packed than before.

When I came out from the hallway at the side, I saw heads turn from what they were doing to glance over at me. Apparently, word must have spread about my little scene earlier in the day, as various groups of people began whispering and pointing at me. I blushed.

Oh my God, this is so embarrassing. I tried to be as dramatic as possible when I made my entrance to prove the point that I deserved to be a Hunter, yet I never stopped to consider the reaction it would garner after I completed that goal. And it just made me want to crawl into a hole and never come back out ever again.

I tried to play it cool— pretend I was unbothered by all the attention I was getting. But when I nearly tripped over absolutely nothing on my way to the closest empty table, I could only curse under my breath at my past self for thinking it was a good idea to draw attention to myself. Although it seemed that that little slip up may have ended up working to my favor, as I heard a few scoffs, and half the faces staring at me turned back to what they were doing.

I took a seat at the corner of the room, nearby the television, and a server came up to me as I did; I ordered a quick meal, since I was feeling hungry after being out the whole night, but when my food arrived I realized the folly of my ways when I brought the spoon to my face and heard a dull thud.

I slowly lowered the spoon back down to the plate, and carefully wiped the mashed potatoes off my mask. This… I’m going to do this a lot from now on, aren’t I? I sighed, and leaned back on my chair.

At this point, only a handful of people were paying any attention to me now, and if the snickers were any indication, it was probably for a vastly different reason than before; to put my mind off the sheer embarrassment I was feeling at the moment, I decided to watch some television.

The TV screen was blank, so I got up and walked over it to turn it on; after spending about a minute trying to figure out why nothing would appear on the screen— despite pressing every button I could— one of the staff of the Hunters Guild tapped my shoulder from behind.

"Um, sorry, but the television is broken."

"Oh," I said, all emotion ripped from my voice.

I went back to my seat, and decided to do absolutely nothing for the rest of the time I had to wait before the contract was ready. Maybe I could have returned to my inn, but that would have been admitting defeat to all the people in here watching me for their entertainment. So I sat back down, and stared blankly at a wall.

You would have thought that I would get bored after five minutes of doing that, but that did not happen: I was a slave once, and I spent entire weeks simply staring at the roof of a cage without anything else to do. This was a war of attrition, and I was used to starving.

So ten minutes passed. Then an hour. At that point, most of the people who were laughing at me had already left, and the guild was even emptier now. When two hours had just elapsed, a figure barged into the Hunters Guild.

A rather rotund figure— short, about my height, with a thick, long grizzly beard. His skin was significantly more tanned than most of the Humans I had seen so far, and he stomped right into the room with his heavy leather boots, carrying a backpack full of metallic objects clanking into each other. It was almost as if he filled a sack full of pots and pans and sent it tumbling down a cliff. It was noisy, and he was noisy.

Because he was a Dwarf.

"Oi, which one of ya filthy Humans took me job? Do I have to spell it out for ya? That was my Chimera!"

People turned to face him, but no one said a word; the Dwarf scanned the lobby of the Hunters Guild, as whoever he stared at averted their gaze from him. I tried to shrink myself and make myself as small as possible— smaller than I already was— but that did not work. Someone must have already tipped him off as to who was the one to kill the Chimera, since he immediately began making his way to me.

"So it was you!" he shouted across the room, marching right up to my table. He loomed over where I sat, folding his arms and looking down at me. "Yer the lassie who thought it be a good idea to hunt my quarry, are ya?"

I stopped myself from instinctively reaching for my dagger, and answered slowly. "...so what if I am?"

The Dwarf frowned; he looked me over once, then twice, stroking his beard as he did. Finally, with a deep breath, he let out a hearty laugh.

"Hah, you’ve got quite the thick skin, don’t you?" he said just as loud as before, but without the accent from earlier. "Humans usually get intimidated when us Dwarves come up to them with our Dwarf speak, but you didn’t. So what are you then? A Goblin? A Half Dwarf? Half Goblin?"

He whispered the last part, leaning forward a little bit. When I did not respond, he just snorted.

"Well, you don’t have to tell me. Especially if it’s the last one. I hear they get treated even worse than Goblins, because they’re considered to be traitors to their species. So if that’s what you are, I don't blame you for wearing that mask over your face."

I tilted my head to the side, still remaining silent; I was certain he was fishing for information, trying to get some sort of reaction out of me, so I was not going to give him any. The Dwarf took a seat next to me, calling for a drink.

"Oi, you, fetch me and the little Missus some ale." Then he turned back around to me. "My treat," he said, giving me a toothy grin.

"Oh, uh, thanks."

At this point, the Dwarf had lost almost all of the accent he had before. You did not need to listen carefully to hear it, since it was still quite obvious, but it seemed like he was trying to speak in a manner that was actually comprehensible to a non-Dwarf by slowing down his speech and enunciating his words.

"So," the Dwarf said, pulling out a large book and putting it down on the wooden table with a thud. "What’s your name? I’m Gennady."

He pointed a thumb at himself, and looked at me expectantly. I put my hand out and started out a reply.

"Me—" I bit my tongue. He raised a bushy brow at that, and I quickly tried to rectify my mistakes. "Uh... me be glad to meet ya?" I said, trying to emulate the best Dwarvish accent I could.

I felt my entire body physically cringe at that; it was probably offensive— scratch that, it was definitely offensive. But it was better than giving my actual name to him; there was no point to all this secrecy if I told everyone who I was supposed to be, since all it would take was someone from the Church to ask a few questions, and they could very easily track me down.

Luckily for me, Gennady seemed to take it in stride.

"Hah, nice try. That’d have fooled any stupid Human. But Dwarves don’t shake hands, we just slap each other on the backs."

With that, I immediately braced myself, but it was too late. He brought an arm out and smacked me from behind. I nearly went headfirst into the table, suppressing a yelp as the sharp pain ran across my body. Ouch!

"How’s that for a Dwarven greeting, eh?"

"...do you need something, Mr Gennady?" I barely managed to ask the question, still rubbing at my back; his forearms alone were twice the size of my legs, so that actually hurt quite a bit.

"Drop the ‘Mr’, little Missus—"

"It’s just Missus— I mean, Miss," I corrected him, then myself.

"Right, whatever you say, Miss. So you killed the Chimera, didn’t you?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, sighing and ignoring all the skeptical side glances that seemed to have elicited from the side. "What about it?"

"Well you see, I’m a Hunter who has been making a special bestiary— a compendium of all known Monsters and where they would rank against each other. It’s my personal project, but I’m hoping to get this officialized by the Hunters Guild eventually."

"And you’ve come to me to get information on Chimeras?"

"Hah, no," he scoffed, slouching back on his chair. "Everyone knows what a Chimera looks like and what it can do."

"Then what do you need me for?" I asked, frowning underneath my mask. "If you already know everything there is to know about it."

"Because my bestiary is special, I mentioned that, didn’t I?" Gennady said, eyes glinting with some sort of excitement. "Regular bestiaries already exist. In fact, most of my references have come from the Official Guidebook to Monsters released by the Hunters Guild, and updated every decade. But all that book does is describe the Monsters— they never rank them."

"Rank them?" I parroted him.

"That’s right. I believe the Hunters Guild system is flawed. Once you’ve gotten your Hunters license, they let you take whatever job you want at your own discretion. Leaving your safety up to yourself."

"What’s wrong with that?"

I did not see an issue with what he was saying; as an adult, you had to carry out your own risk assessment. Taking a job far beyond your capabilities would result in your death, so you had to ascertain whether a reward was worth putting your life in the line. However, the Dwarf seemed to see something I did not, as he snorted.

"The problem is, Miss, that people are idiots."

"That’s… rude," I said, unable to bring myself to disagree with him.

"But it’s also true. And that’s why I believe the Hunters Guild should implement a ranking system for both their Hunters, and the Monsters they are supposed to hunt."

"Like some sort of tier list?"

"Exactly." The Dwarf snapped his fingers, glad that I was finally catching on to his idea. "I propose that Hunters are to be sorted based on the threat of the Monsters they are capable of dealing with. A range that goes starts from the Rank, F, and goes as high up as to A Rank for regular Monsters. And then there’s an S Rank reserved for special Monsters."

A voice piped up from the side.

"That’s a stupid idea, Gennady, and you know it!"

"Oi, shut it John. Nobody was talking to you!" Gennady shouted back. He shook his head, muttering an oath under his breath.

"I… see," I said, nodding my head slightly. "I think I get what you’re saying. But why must we rank things… alphabetically?"

That almost seemed silly to me; it was like getting a grade in a classroom, which almost downplayed how dangerous some of these Monsters were supposed to be.

"Hmph, I could’ve ranked things numerically, but that only makes it worse. And I did think about ranking them in another way, starting from bronze, and going up to platinum— like how coins worked. But the small range becomes an issue. With only four ranks, it would vastly over inflate the middle two. And while stretching it out to seven may not fully solve this problem, it does mitigate it somewhat."

"I think I get what you’re saying here."

"Then you’re as much of an idiot as he is!"

I narrowed my eyes, and looked at the Hunter who yelled that. "What’s wrong with his idea?"

"It’s stupid!" the man said, taking a swig of ale. "If someone is put in a lower rank— like say, E— they’ll be stuck taking lower paying jobs, and can’t even take a higher one to prove themselves! It leaves all the good jobs to only a group of elite snobs."

Gennady reached for his own cup of ale, but stopped when he realized his drink still had not been served. He yelled at a server before yelling at the other Hunter.

"Just because someone’s in Rank E doesn’t mean they can’t go up in rank, ye bloody moron. And it’s not like you even do any of the dangerous jobs, so quit yer yapping!"

The Dwarf’s accent seemed to return as he argued with the other Hunters in the room.

The two argued for another minute until the other man had to be brought away by his buddies before they got into a fight. To be honest, both sides made good points that made sense to me.

A system like what Gennady was suggesting would have maybe saved some lives from being lost unnecessarily, but it would also force some Hunters from getting access to better paying jobs; equipment meant a lot to Hunters, which could have allowed them to face tougher Monsters, and that was reliant on making money in the first place. Yet, Hunters taking jobs too dangerous for them was a problem too, so there were clear issues with both systems.

I had no qualms in the argument (since I literally just got here) so I said nothing. Once the other Hunter was brought out of the guild, Gennady sighed. "Whatever, it’s not like any of this matters since this system isn’t a thing just yet. I came here to ask you about the Chimera, Miss."

"Oh, right. What did you want to know?"

"Alright, so I’ve read up about the abilities of a Chimera, and I’ve heard stories about Hunters who go up to the Incen Mountain Range just to hunt them down and sell them off for gold. I know there are rich nobles willing to buy those for… 15 gold? Depending on how undamaged their bodies are, of course."

"Wait, but I’m getting paid less than that for killing it," I pointed out.

"Of course you are. You’re getting paid for exterminating it, not for selling off its body. The Hunters Guild only pays people for killing Monsters that are a threat to settlements, and not those minding their own business in their natural habitat. But they can’t stop anyone from going out there and making some money for themselves. Although considering you only brought back its head— and from what I heard, it was in a terrible state— I don’t think anyone would be willing to even buy that for a gold piece."

Gennady chuckled, finally taking a sip from his drink.

"Goddess, this tastes like shit." He grimaced, pulling the mug away from his face. "Well anyways, I wanted to take down this Chimera myself, but even after days of hunting it, it never once attacked me. Although Chimeras tend to be cowards, only attacking whatever they think they can kill without a problem. And considering the size of you, it probably thought you were easy prey, and I was not. Too bad for it, it’s dead now."

"Mhm, they’re pretty stupid," I agreed, not touching my drink for obvious reasons.

"So what do you think?"

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

"What rank do you think they should be?" the Dwarf said, leaning over to me. "I’ve never fought one, so I’ve been torn between putting them between Rank D and Rank C in my bestiary, see?"

He began flipping through his large book, stopping at a page that had the drawing of a Chimera.

"I’ve written down their strengths and weaknesses. And while they have a lot of strengths, they also have a lot of weaknesses. So they’re pretty balanced— any Hunter with the right equipment could take down a Chimera if it attacks them recklessly. They’re not fast, and they’re not anywhere near as strong as even a Horned Wolf. But they sneak up on you, and they have several abilities that make them dangerous to anyone who’s caught off guard. Which was what happened to those two poor Hunters who tried to hunt the Chimera down by themselves. So that makes me want to put them down as a Rank C, see? Because they’ve got strategy."

"Uh," I hesitated, listening to his explanations of things I barely even understood; not sure what to say, I shrugged. "I don’t know? What even is a Rank D or C Monster even supposed to be in your book?"

Gennady paused, then brought a hand up to his forehead. "Right, I forgot to explain that."

The Dwarf inhaled deeply, and began to list out all the different Monsters he considered fitting for each rank. And since I barely even knew a thing about Monsters, it was not extremely helpful.

"So F Rank Monsters are the weakest ones. They’re Horned Rabbits or individual Kobolds— not a threat to most Hunters. E Rank Monsters would be a pack of Kobolds, since those pests always group up together, or Frogzards. D Rank Monsters would be Crawlers— giant spiders that would eat you in your sleep— while C Rank would be Horned Wolves. B Rank threats are entire swarms of Giant Wasps— you don’t want to run into those, they’ll tear entire towns apart— and an A Rank Monster would be something like a Horned Ursa or a Manticore."

"How about an S Rank Monster? You said those are special?"

"Yes. Those would be like Krakens or Hydras. Incredibly rare and incredibly powerful too. But there’s even something above that."

"Above?" I asked, cocking a brow. "But you said your range only goes up to S."

"Well, yes. Because these Monsters are myths. Legends. You only hear stories about them— tales of the widespread destruction they have wrought whenever they appeared in history. Entire countries brought to ruin. There are three, have you heard of them?"

I scratched the side of my head. "I can’t say I have."

"Huh, that’s odd. I’d have assumed that most people would know about these three creatures. You must come from a really sheltered environment," Gennady remarked, taking a swig from his ale before coughing.

"I’m not sheltered," I said, folding my arms. "My mom taught me everything I needed to know that was important. Why would these dumb stories even matter?"

"Ah, you see, that’s because they aren’t just stories. I can’t tell you everything about them right now, but the three are: the Dragon, ruler of the sky, and guardian of Drake Island; the Ouroboros, keeper of the earth, and the destroyer of civilizations; and lastly, the Cetus, master of the sea, and bringer of storms."

"Those are some fancy titles for a couple of Monsters."

"They really are, but they befit their status. The Cetus is a force of nature. Some believe it causes hurricanes and tsunamis, but the commonly held belief is that it simply follows where the winds and tides calls it to. The Ourobors meanwhile, is a chaotic beast. It does not abide by any rules, and brings destruction whenever it chooses to strike next, coming out from its home in the mountains. Finally, the Dragon is seen as a protector of civilization. It is worshipped as the progenitor of the Drakes, and defends them from any peoples that threaten their society."

"Wait, the Drakes worship Dragons?" I asked, mouth hanging agape beneath my mask. "Isn’t that… heresy?"

"No. Why would that be?" Gennady stared back at me, confused at my confusion.

"But isn’t the Goddess the one that… saved us all? She saved all life from eternal suffering?"

"Yes. The Goddess of Light freed us from damnation, and that includes the Dragon, which went on to create the Drakes. Or at least, that’s what the Drakes seem to believe. I think it’s a bunch of crap, and the Dragon is just a Monster that is defending its territory which the Drakes just so happen to live in."

"What does the Church think?"

"The Church chooses not to confirm or deny anything regarding this. They say it’s not in their canon, but it is possible." The Dwarf waved a hand dismissively. "If you ask me, however, I don’t think the Church likes it. Although I don’t think they like the Drakes in general, since, you know, they never once supported either side during all the Holy Wars."

"Right," I said, pretending that I knew that all along and this was not complete news to me. "So those are these three ‘beyond S Rank’ Monsters?"

"Yes.They’re supposedly ‘myths’, as in there is no verifiable evidence of them other than some records— no pictures or anything of the like. But if you ask me, I believe they’re real. Or at least, I know one of them is." He winked at me, as he closed his book shut.

"That’s terrifying," I commented.

"They are supposed to be."

"No, I mean that’s actually scary. Shouldn't there be a hazard warning for that before I applied to become a Hunter? Because I’m starting to feel like this job is too much for me now."

I exhaled deeply as I slumped over on my chair. I just want to make some money, for God’s sake! I'm tired of being unemployed!

Gennady chortled. "Hah, don’t worry. If you ever meet even a single one of these three beasts, I’d consider you the unluckiest gal in the world. Anyways, warning? That’s what I’m here for— to make this official." The Dwarf proudly held his bestiary up.

"I don’t see how a book could save me when a Monster that can wipe out entire cities attacks me," I said fatalistically. But it was a deserved fatalism, since I knew how horribly wrong things could go for me whenever that false god willed it.

"It won’t save you, but this can save others from getting themselves killed. So tell me, lass, what do you think? Where do you think a Chimera would rank? C? D? Or maybe somewhere else?"

"I—"

"Excuse me, Miss. The Guild Master is looking for you," an employee of the Hunters Guild called out to me.

"Oh," I said, head snapping up. "Looks like I’ve got to go. Sorry that I can’t help you." I got up from my chair and backed away slowly.

"Hey, wait!" Gennady stood up, grabbing my hand. "You didn’t give me an answer."

I tried pulling my arm away from him, but he locked his grip around my wrists; I would have pulled even harder, but I was afraid of getting injured. He was genuinely strong— which was not unexpected, considering he was built like a miniature strongman.

"Please, let me go," I asked nicely, lowering a hand to my side.

"Hmph, you’re quite strong. But I won’t until you tell me whether you think a Chimera should be a D Rank threat or C Rank threat."

I stared back at the Dwarf, and I realized he was serious. My free hand hovered over the hilt of my dagger for a moment, before I threw it up in the air.

"Ugh, fine! If you want to know so bad, make it D Rank, ok?"

I felt his grip loosen, and immediately took a step back.

"And why’s that?"

"It’s D Rank because it’s a Dumb Monster, that’s why!"

I stuck a tongue out at the Dwarf, before realizing I was masked and he could not see it. He did not like my explanation, and began to protest, but at that point, I was already walking away.

That was boring, I thought to myself. Informative, but boring. Just like learning always is.

However, thanks to that Dwarf, I managed to pass the time doing something. It certainly was far better than staring at a wooden wall for a few hours. And now, it was time for me to get licensed as a Hunter.

...wait, he’s a Dwarf.

The realization hit me as my palm smacked my head: I was supposed to be going to a Dwarf country— the Taw Kingdom. If he was from there, I could have prodded him for some information on how things worked there, and if Felix was actually telling the truth or not.

Or maybe it was better that I didn’t ask. After all, I didn’t want to assume every Dwarf was from the same place (since that was probably racist), right?

Chapter 14: Legacy and Licensed

"...so you’ll just have to sign this contract, and you’ll officially be licensed as a Hunter."

I glanced back up at the Guild Master as he finished speaking, and nodded slowly.

The contract was not long— it was only two pages full of me agreeing that they would not be responsible for any harm I put myself into. Nothing unexpected. Just long enough to protect the Hunters Guild from any legal action by the loved ones of Hunters who perished in their jobs, while giving them the right to terminate the license of any Hunter who were criminals or violated the terms of their contract.

So I lifted up my pen, hovering it over where my signature was supposed to go; I had written down my legal ‘name’ there, and all I had to do next was sign right next to it. And while giving a fake name was already a breach of contract, I had no choice: my safety from being hunted down by the Church was my primary concern above all else. Thus, I had given the Hunters Guild a fake name.

It was a rather common name. There was even a saying about it. It was the equivalent of meeting someone named ‘John Smith’— it sounded almost fake. But it was a real name, and it was used widely enough that I was confident I could not be tracked down with it. These were the practical reasons as to why I used it.

There was, however, a reason beyond just pure pragmatism for why I chose that name. In this world, I never owned anything with any sentimental value; no object that I had lost truly felt like it meant something good to me. Even my Witch hat would not be deemed a true loss if I had somehow misplaced it: the symbolism behind it was more important to me than the actual hat itself— getting it replaced would quickly fill the void losing it entailed.

Yet, there was meaning in the idea of a purple pointed hat, just as there was meaning here. I stared down at the name written on the paper, and felt a smile creep up on my face.

I brought the pen down, signing right next to it, signifying that that was who I was supposed to be. And with that, it was complete.

Aria.

My mom’s name. Or her fake name. It might have been commonly used, but there was meaning there for me. Something intangible. Something that made me prouder of myself than anything I had done before. Because now, it was my fake name.

I walked out of the Guild Master’s office with a card. It was just a plain card, with a name and a serial code printed on it, along with the words ‘Hunter’ displayed above it all. Although it did not have one of those black and white pictures which the new cards issued by the bigger branches of the Hunters Guild usually did, it had enough identifying information on it for me.

I felt myself beaming as I held the card in my hands, not paying attention to where I was going; not only was I officially a Hunter now— which meant that I was no longer unemployed and jobless— I was also using my mom’s name, and that made me feel like I was doing something meaningful. She might have been dead, but I was going to carry on living in her name... literally.

I went all giddy at the thought, and almost ran into an almost five foot tall brick wall. Well, not a brick wall, but it might as well have been the same thing.

Gennady, the Dwarf from earlier, stood with his arms folded in front of me. I blinked as he tapped a finger impatiently on his forearm.

It took me about a second to realize what he wanted, then another for me to remember something. Deciding that coming off as slightly racist was probably the last of my worries, and that I actually had valid concerns regarding my safety and my future, I decided to ask the question anyways.

"Hey, are you from the Taw Kingdom by any chance?"

"What?" The Dwarf seemed caught off guard by that. "Of course I am, why— wait, don’t change the subject!" he snapped at me.

"Oh, right, you wanted to know what the ‘Rank’ this Chimera is," I said, nodding my head. "Well I think it’s D Rank, since it’s a stupid dumb Monster."

Gennady sighed, exasperated. "That’s not how this works! You can’t just ascribe a danger level based on how intelligent it is. Sure, it does play a part, but the threat level is what’s important." He placed his arms on his hips, then added, "oh, and by the way, Chimeras are generally considered smart. I don’t know why you insist on calling it ‘dumb’."

"Because it is," I replied nonchalantly. "It assesses threats to it based on size alone, which is no different than most wild animals. The only reason why it appears intelligent is because it’s a coward, choosing only weak prey— and that makes it even less dangerous to Hunters who are strong enough to actually kill it, no?"

"I…" the Dwarf hesitated. "That actually makes a lot of sense. I never considered looking at it from that perspective," he said, rubbing his crimson beard.

"What, did you think I was giving you a fake answer on purpose? I just didn’t have time to elaborate because I was busy. Trying to get my Hunter’s license." I indicated the card in my hand. "You were the one being rude to me, grabbing me when I had something to do."

I scowled underneath my mask, unhappy with the rough treatment he gave me; his iron grip around my hand brought up some unpleasant memories from something less than a year ago.

"I do apologize about that, lass. Your answer just sounded so… insincere."

"I was in a rush," I said simply. "But I can see where you’re coming from. So let’s just let bygones be bygones, how about that?"

"Of course! Us Dwarves don’t hold grudges very easily," he said with a booming, but lighthearted voice. "As I said earlier, my name’s Gennady. B Rank Hunter. What about you?"

I smiled slightly, and stuck out a hand; this time, the Dwarf accepted it with a gentle grip, not squeezing my hand too tight, but firm enough that it did not hang loosely with the shake.

"Aria," I said my fake name, "and just a regular Hunter, since Ranks aren’t an actual thing."

"Hah, good one," he laughed, "but it will be in the future, you’ll see!"

With introductions finished, we sat back down on our table to chat a bit. I was getting tired, since I had not slept all night, so I kept the conversation brief and asked him all the things I wanted to ask him about.

First, he explained the basics of being a Hunter. It was pretty much everything I had already known, with a few extra tidbits about what requests I should generally avoid— ones which were vaguely worded, especially escort jobs. Apparently, some people would hire Hunters, citing a need for protection from Monsters when traveling, while casually omitting the fact that there were bandits in the area, or they were being chased after by some enemy they made like loan sharks or a rival business/noble house.

Hunters were required to protect their clients from bandits and the like once they had taken up the escort missions, but the point of a Hunter’s job was to fight Monsters, not people. So Hunters who saw an easy job where they were being paid in silver to bring a client through a road with sparse Monsters, had to do their due diligence to ensure they were not being exploited as cheap Mercenaries.

Extermination jobs were a lot more straightforward than that, with the Hunters Guild putting up a bounty for a specific Monster that had been terrorizing an area. That was what I did with the Chimera, and the 8 extra gold sitting in my coin pouch testified that it was as simple as that.

Sometimes, however, there were extermination jobs to wipe out a Monster nest that was growing too big; typically these types of requests would pay incredibly well, and would require multiple Hunters or Hunter teams working together to complete. Otherwise, however, the Hunters Guild did not pay you for going out into a Monster’s natural habitat and killing it for no reason— that was what auctions with rich nobles, merchants, Alchemists, and the like were for.

After learning all that, I began to question the Dwarf about his home country of Taw, pretending that I was curious about going there (which was not a lie).

"The Taw Kingdom is a far better place than this damned country. Hah, you think this place is great and its mana tech advanced? Look at it! It doesn’t even have a working television!"

Gennady stood up, and kicked the side of the wooden box. The screen flickered to life, a dull gray static covering the screen for a moment, before the outlines of a vague figure began to take shape.

"...and the storms clouding over the Capital city of Luke for the last month seem to be clearing up, which could see more pirates—"

"Oh," the Dwarf said, voice flat.

"Hey, looks like it’s working now," I giggled, grinning to myself.

Gennady stomped back to our table, as heads turned to watch the now-working television broadcast the news. "Stupid machine," he grumbled. "How does hitting it get it to work? Bah, ours in Taw are far better, and they even have color unlike this black and white crap."

"Maybe just touching it with your Dwarf hands fixed it since you guys are so much better with technology than us," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"Hah, I wouldn’t be surprised. It probably hasn’t felt the touch of a real Tinkerer in so long, that’s why it stopped working properly."

"So you’re a Tinkerer then?" I asked, glancing at his mountain of a backpack.

"Why yes I am. Although I would prefer the term inventor, since I actually create new stuff, and don’t just work off of shoddy old trash like most of the Tinkerers here seem to do."

"Is that why you like Taw so much? Because their Tinkerers are better?"

"Hmph, not really. On average? We are the best in the world— better than even the Holy Xan Empire, producing higher quality mana tools and even using a large amount of golems for security. But it’s all the same. The Holy Xan Empire leads the world in innovation, and we’re still trying to play catch up. However we’ll never catch up when they call my creations crazy, but accept that mad Scientist Bertrand without a second thought." The Dwarf scowled, leaning back on his chair.

I was interested in what the man meant when he referred to his ‘creations’; he prided himself as an inventor, and I wanted to know what kind of tools he made. However, my focus was on the Taw Kingdom— I had to know more about it. Necessity trumped curiosity in terms of importance.

"This Scientist, is he from… the Holy Xan Empire?" I garnered a guess, remembering what Felix had told me.

"Bertrand? Yes he is," Gennady said, shaking his head. "A fool exiled because of his insane ideas. Honestly, I don’t understand why we’re even giving him refuge."

"But aren’t the Holy Xan Empire allied with Taw? Why provide asylum to an enemy of one of your allies?" I asked, confirming my suspicions.

"We’re not allies. Hardly. That damned Empire likes to throw its weight around as if it ruled the entire world, but it does not rule us. Our common enemies are the only reason why we’d work with them, and you best believe we’d spit at their faces any chance we got when it benefits us."

"That’s… vindictive," I pointed out the obvious. But I felt slightly relieved, knowing that Felix had not lied to me about this; the Taw Kingdom and the Holy Xan empire might have had an alliance, but they rarely acted the part.

"Us Dwarves may tolerate insults, but we do not appreciate condescension. Remember that the next time you meet one, because that would save you from getting a hammer to the back of the head when you turn around," the Dwarf chortled, as if he made a joke which only he would understand.

I was not sure how serious that warning was, so I made note of that and stored it in the back of my mind. With the conversation finished, and me feeling tired from a lack of sleep, I decided that that was enough information gathering for the day.

I had not inquired about anything regarding magic to Gennady, and would not unless the flow of the conversation naturally shifted in that direction; I did not want to arouse any suspicion, especially not so soon after meeting him for the first time. Maybe once I had gotten to know him more, I could go prodding further, try and ask the question at the right opportunity.

From what I had gathered from speaking to the Dwarf, it seemed as though he was probably looking to expand his bestiary— confirm the rankings of as many Monsters as possible. And that might mean I would have seen more of him.

"Will I see you around?" I asked, standing up to take my leave.

"‘Course!" he said as heartily as ever. "I mostly travel about, but Locke has been a good base of operations for the last month. I’ll leave soon, though not before I investigate that supposed Abomination infestation up at the foot of the Incen Mountain Range."

"Abomination… infestation?" I cocked my head.

"Oh haven’t you heard? That’s the reason why there are so many Monsters in the area. Or at least, that’s what the guild thinks. They suspect that Abominations must have taken over a Monster’s nest or something up there, causing an exodus of Monsters to come down here. They have sent a few Hunters to investigate, but none of them have returned. It’s worth quite the reward."

I frowned, casting a glance at the job board. Sure enough, there was an open bounty for 20 gold to simply scout out the area, and report back with as much information as possible; as for the extermination of the Abominations, it was stated to be at 50 gold, however depending on how big of an infestation it was, the reward could have gone up to even double or triple the starting price.

"And you want to wipe them all out?" I shuddered, remembering those corpses infected and conjoined by the blue bulbs.

I had seen some Abominations out and about while I was leaving the Free Lands; they were not as terrifying as the horde which brought down Bys in a night, but they still sent shivers down my spine. The faint yellow glow they emitted only made them more eerie, while their chirping shrieks would have sent any grown man running for their life.

"Hah, I am not insane," Gennady chuckled, "but I do want to assess what kind of a threat they are. The Church has said there are various types of Abominations, but they have withheld exactly what are the differences between them. I have to know— to add it into my bestiary."

"Surely there’s a safer way to do that," I suggested. "If these Abominations can evict so many Monsters from their homes, they can’t can’t just be a small group. It’ll be dangerous— what happens if you die?"

The Dwarf snorted. "I told you, I’m a B Rank Hunter, I can hold my own."

"And I told you I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean." I sighed stepping away from the table and towards the door. "Just… think about it. They are dangerous. An entire city— one of the biggest in the world— was destroyed overnight by them."

"Which is exactly why I have to do this," Gennady said, his voice firm, and his eyes blazing with determination. "The job of a Hunter is to protect innocent civilians from Monsters. And this is a new type of Monster. One that threatens all the towns and cities in the area. If I just let it continue, I won’t be a very good Hunter, would I?"

I held the man’s gaze for a moment. The B Rank Hunter seemed like he would refuse to back down. So I did instead. "I… you’re right. Just don’t get yourself killed."

I turned around to walk away. I did not know why I cared so much; the lives of others were not in my hands. Hunters probably died every day all across Vitae. It mattered not to me if another one threw his own away because he overestimated his own abilities.

But something still called to me. A voice whispered in my head, telling me I was wrong. Telling me that Gennady was wrong. Because—

These were not Monsters.

They were Abominations. Created by a false god and unleashed upon this world for whatever reason he had in mind.

So as I fell asleep in my bed. Inside an inn protected by a city and all its guards. I could only dream of one thing.

A mannequin with a wig. Or a god. His malicious smile spreading across his face. The three men in the woods, praising ‘Him’. And the two figures in Bys— one that brought the Abominations into the city, and the other that saved me.

Whatever it all meant, I knew it had something to do with me. It was not my responsibility, but I was involved in it somehow. That must have been important… I think.

And when I woke up, I saw the twilight sun setting over the horizon as evening turned to night. Then sighing, I gathered my things and prepared to leave.

I could not help it; something within me compelled me to act. If it was something else, maybe I could have ignored it. The reward would not have been worth it then. But these were Abominations, and it was not like they were capable of hurting me anyways… I think.

Regardless, it was my first proper mission as a Hunter, and it was time for me to go hunting.

Chapter 15: Monster Hunting

The Incen Mountain Range was one of the largest mountain ranges in the entire world. It did not have the highest peaks nor did it have the most dangerous Monsters, but it stretched for almost five thousand miles, creating the natural border between the Free Lands and its western and southern neighbors, preventing many territorial disputes as a result.

While there were many passes cutting through the Incen Mountain Range, most of them were narrow enough to dissuade conflicts, sustaining relative peace between the Free Lands and the likes of Laxis or the Rem Republic. Entering Laxis from the Free Lands was not as difficult as, say, Elius, for the peaks separating the two were not as high, nor was the valley as small as the other routes available to safely travel through. That, and the fact that it was one of the closest direct ways out of the Free Lands, were part of the reasons why I had chosen to go to Laxis after leaving the Dark Crusaders.

I could have gone east— to Anibes— but that would have required going through the Chalstics Confederacy. And despite freeing dozens of their soldiers from prison and potential… torture for some, I did not trust them to give me a warm welcome if they had found me in their territory; to them, I was a Dark Crusader— a heretic part of a siege on one of their key fortresses— my one good deed would not have fully abated whatever ill feelings they would have had towards me.

Regardless, now I was in Laxis, which had the Incen Mountain Range wrapping around almost half of the country, starting from the southeast, before going up to cover a quarter of the north. I had entered closer to the southeast, and strayed away from the valley with the orphanage which I first found myself in. But that did not mean I was any further from the Incen Mountain Range than I had been before.

Even from the city of Locke, I could see the undulating crests in the near distance, neverending, going beyond the horizon itself.

It was just almost 40 miles to reach the foot of the mountains. Supposedly, somewhere in that general area to the east, there was an Abomination infestation at the base of the mountain range. All the villages and towns in that direction claimed that they had seen Monster or animal carcasses with the signature blue lumps on their body, wandering down the hills. And considering that the Hunters sent to investigate have not been heard from again, along with the recent influx of Monsters attacks, the Hunters Guild has been led to believe that the rumors were true.

After having my dinner, I first went to the Hunters Guild to ensure that the job had not been taken, and while I was met with an odd look by the receptionist at the counter, she confirmed that I was not wasting my time doing this. Then I gathered my things and started for the distant hilltops, trudging along the roads that brought me closer to it until I could follow it no more.

While I did have the strength of an adult thanks to whatever spell or miracle removed the mark from my face, I still had the small stubby legs of a kid; pushing hard off the ground in a run might have carried me further than anyone my age could have possibly sprinted, but my walking speed still remained roughly the same. It would take me until dawn to arrive at my location, and I would probably have spent more time even finding where to begin my investigation.

So I did not rush. There was no reason to. I had even packed a bag full of traveling necessities, since it was likely that this job would have taken at least a full day. Likely even more if the Abominations were somehow well hidden.

I trudged under the thick canopy of trees, vines reaching down from branches like tendrils, smothering me in the darkness. The sweat on my hands— the only part of my body left uncovered— barely glistened under the light from the crescent moon hanging atop the sable night sky. It was more humid here than it ever got in the Free Lands; the close proximity to the sea, and the fact that I was probably just above the equator now made the air, thin as it was in this attitude, much more damp.

I had long since been unable to see the South Star at the edge of the horizon. And I was only going further north in the future, as my destination for now was the Taw Kingdom, a Dwarven country close to the very top of the continent. I almost felt glad that I could not see that dim red glow of the Inferna; its presence would have reminded me of Karna, and the knowledge that I had called him a friend only to betray him had weighed me down for more than just the first few nights after gaining my freedom. It would not do for me to be distracted and die in an ambush to some Monster, so I stayed focused, paying attention to every little sound and movement all around me.

Unlike the last few times I had gone out to fight, I had my staff with me to aid my spellcasting. I did not intend to fight what was possibly hundreds of Abominations unaided by magic— discretion was not necessary when there was no one around. I had worn my mask only as a precaution: if I was somehow found out, I could always dump my mask and cover my face with a new one and everyone would be none the wiser.

At least, if it was an isolated incident. I did not intend for such a thing to happen often, if at all.

Regardless, I was not sure if I even had to use magic for this extermination mission. One of the factors that pushed me towards doing this was my first encounter with the Abominations: I distinctly remembered being ignored by them when I saw them attacking Bys. I have not approached or come close to any Abomination since then, so I was not sure if this still held true. So to be cautious, I simply brought my staff with me.

Plus there were other reasons for me to have been wary. My eyes flickered to the side, as I caught a glimpse of movement. Something had brushed against the bushes, and I heard the faint rustling of leaves coming from the same direction.

I tensed— feeling the mana in the air, the earth, and my surroundings gather around me. No spell circle formed just yet. It was as if I were resting a finger on the strings of a bow. The arrow gently rested on the palm of my hands, the bow raised and ready to fire, but it was not nocked on. Not just yet.

I held my staff up at the ready, eyes darting from side to side. There was a Monster here. At least one.

I held still, unmoving, careful not to make a sound. But I was too stiff. I might not have reacted in time if something came out at me right this instant. So I took a step back—

And a figure burst out of the bushes. A large, serpentine shape emerged from beneath the thicket of trees, whipping itself out of the blanket of darkness to bask in the silvery moonlight. The Horned Viper lashed out at me, its fangs the size of my arms, and its head the size of my body.

I reacted instantly. The ground shot up, forming a wall between myself and the gargantuan snake. The impact sent dirt flying in all directions, but it held strong. The Monster reeled back for another strike as I raised my staff, spell circle already forming, the intricate pattern nearly complete.

A blade of wind shot out, sending a visible ripple through the air as it launched forward. The Horned Viper’s slit-like pupil flickered. It saw the Wind Blade coming. And despite its large size, it nimbly slithered out of the way of the attack.

I backed up as quickly as I could; I had to put as much distance between me and the Monster as possible. I already had another spell cast: three purple orbs floated around my shoulders. The spell circle was gone yet the spell stayed— I had pre-cast it, keeping it at the ready. I was about to send it flying at the Horned Viper, when the light from my magic illuminated its features. It… didn’t have a horn? Wait, that means…

This was its second head.

I made the realization just in time to save myself. I threw all my weight to the side, dodging a larger serpentine figure as it came crashing down where I once stood.

The horned head of a snake stared at me as I just barely rolled to safety. It was nearly twice as large as the other head. And although its fangs were just as long and just as sharp, it was twice as deadly, for this pair was actually venomous. Not that it mattered much, since it would have swallowed me whole if I did not get out of the way.

I found myself standing upright as I fired off half a dozen Magic Missiles at the first head in a flurry of attacks. I was hoping to hit it with at least one of them while it was still on the ground, but once again, the Horned Viper moved at an incredibly fast speed.

The first head retreated back to the second, and the two began coiling around one another. Two heads. Two targets. Connected by one body, dozens of feet in length. It was almost unfair, but I still found myself smirking. Because I knew all I had to do to even the playing field was give it multiple targets back.

The Horned Viper lashed out at me, striking with its second, hornless, head. As per usual, it came quick. But I pointed my staff at it while raising my free hand to the side, casting two spells at once. The first was a simple defensive Force Barrier. Enough to protect myself from the brunt of an attack, even if it would probably still send me flying. The second, however, conjured multiple glowing sources of light. Sources of heat.

The Monster’s eyes flickered in confusion as its vision was covered by dozens of flaming arrows. It rained down on the second head of the Horned Viper, too many to dodge, and coming in incessant waves that never seemed to cease. The damage was negligible, but more than that, Fire Arrows were forming around me. If my guess was right, and the Horned Viper actually had infrared vision, I had to be nothing more than a blur to it at that moment.

And I was.

The second head of the Horned Viper pulled back in confusion, taking the hail of arrows, barely more than a singe on its onyx scales. The first head, however, inspected the small dots of heat coming into existence like stars covering the night sky, trying to find my figure hiding behind it. I was bigger than a small flaming arrow, after all.

The Horned Viper saw something move. A heat source, larger than the others, running quickly behind the cover of the Fire Arrows. It sent the second head sweeping in that direction, ignoring the Fire Arrows that bounced off it, while uprooting trees and crushing the earth at where it struck.

But all the Horned Viper found there was a burning intense pain. The Monster hissed, though it came out almost as a scream. The second head pulled back, its face badly burnt, the scales now charred and flaking.

It glanced back at the Flame Wall as it went sailing through the ground, in the random direction I had sent it in. The Horned Viper whipped its head around, searching for me in confusion. And it saw me, standing amidst the now dissipating Fire Arrows.

I had not moved an inch.

I took a step forward, the three glowing orbs still floating behind me, and began casting two more spells once again. On my left hand, a ball of flames came into existence. Larger than even my head, burning almost like a miniature sun. And above my head, a magic circle began to misshapen itself, taking the form of a long, pointed object.

A chill slowly crept down the tip of my staff, frost forming a thin layer over the wisened wood. A crystalline spear made of ice finished forming, leaking out luminescent wispy smoke under the moonlight.

I threw the Fireball at the Horned Viper in an arc. It saw the attack coming. It probably wanted to laugh. The ball of flames came at too wide an angle. There was no way that would have ever hit the Monster—

And the Frost Javelin struck the side of its head.

The Horned Viper did not see the attack coming. And why would it? Vipers had infrared vision which let them see at night, but the spear was ice cold. Practically invisible compared to the Fireball. This Monster might not have had the same biology of a regular snake, but I had tested it, and came to the conclusion that it at least saw the very same way as one.

So the Frost Javelin had lanced out at the Monster while it was not looking, piercing it right next to the horn. It flinched, its entire body jerking back as the pain spread throughout it.

The Horned Viper thrashed about for a moment, before raising its second head to crush me. I leapt to the side, leaving behind the Explosive Orbs in my stead. I felt the blast go off at my back as I readied another spell.

I whirled around, casting a quick glance at the second head of the Horned Viper. Even together, the force of the explosion from the Explosive Orbs was still slightly weaker than a Fireball. However, it was enough to obliterate a quarter of the Monster’s second head. I had expected to see bits of brain or a half open skull, but only saw tendons and muscles where it was supposed to be. So it only has one real head....

I focused my attacks on the Horned Viper’s intact head. The Frost Javelin had already dissipated, leaving behind a large open wound where it once was. The Monster looked at me. Its tail— the fake second head— destroyed and lying idly behind it. Blood was pouring out from the gash at the side of its true head. It was not going to win. There was no way it was going to win.

And yet, the Horned Viper’s eyes flashed. It stared down at me with a hate-filled gaze. It opened its mouth once again and charged straight at me, its rage pushing it to go against its natural instinct to survive.

I brought both of my hands together, clutching at the staff. It had been Victor’s staff once, but it was mine now. Just like how I knew every spell in the former Dark Acolyte’s repertoire, and more. I had not spent countless hours studying and training in secret while traveling for naught.

It was so easy to learn magic despite being inhibited by the world itself when I literally was the most powerful spellcaster in the world— or at least, I thought I was. As long as that fake god did not trick me when he granted my request, I was certain that my quick mastery over the various fields of magic was truly unique. Beyond prodigal. And so far, I had no reason to doubt this fact.

Lighting. True lightning that fell from the heavens came crashing down at the Horned Viper. It took longer for me to cast than even a Fireball. But it was the most powerful spell I currently knew.

Unlike the other magicks I had read about— ones that summoned a storm of meteors that rained down from the sky, or conjured a blizzard of hail the size of spears and swords— this was a spell that was actually taught in the grimoires I owned. Not only that, it was something that I could practice when protected under the guise of rain.

So I called down the lighting onto the charging Monster. There was a flash of light, followed by the air ripping in a rolling grumble. It struck true and at the very tip of the Monster’s horn. Electricity crackled, being discharged into the surroundings as the Horned Viper fell limp from the spell— its attack completely halted.

It landed right next to me, the scales throughout its body burnt off by the electric current. Its eyes rolled up in its head as it lay there, dead.

I grimaced, the smell of the overcooked corpse almost overwhelming; I tried to cover my nose, only to catch myself from knocking my fingers onto my mask. I remembered about it this time, only because of the perspiration forming on the side of my face.

I was not tired yet, but it was stuffy because of my mask, and the humidity only made it worse. The fight had worked up more off a sweat than it normally would have, although I nearly did panic for a moment thinking I was going to die at the very beginning. It took everything I had to kill the Horned Viper, and although I did not feel my control over mana weakening due to exhaustion, I found it worrying that my first battle had been as difficult as it was.

I worried over this as I quickly went over to put out the fire patches I had caused all around. Most of them had already been put out due to the small size of the flames, and even the larger fires caused by my Flame Wall and Fireball were reduced in size when I got there to extinguish it.

As the last of the fires went out, I finally decided to press forward; going back seemed tempting, since it was the safest option, but I had already gone this far. However, I told myself that if I continued to find myself pushed up against the wall by powerful Monsters, I would make a hasty retreat back to Locke.

Fortunately, I found that that was not necessary.

After a short break, I continued towards the mountains in the distance mostly unhindered. The rare Monsters that attacked me were nothing compared to the Horned Viper I faced, and were quickly disposed of by a Wind Blade or a Magic Missile. Horned Rabbits came at me with their terrifying shrieks, only to be cut down in an instant by my magic. Packs of Kobolds saw me as easy prey at first, but quickly fled once they realized I could actually fight back.

In short: it was uneventful.

The sun was rising over the horizon by the time I found myself walking up an incline. An orange glow was cast across the sky, and light once again entered the world; I was glad that I could finally see without any aid— I had lit a torchlight once I realized the cover of the dark would not hide me from the Monsters stalking through it. I tossed aside the burning wooden stick that was only kept alight by my magic, pre-casting it so there would be no need for a spell circle.

I continued hiking up the rocky hill for another hour or two, until the sun had fully risen into the sky, before I saw my first signs of life— other than the small group of antelopes I had seen going the other way. But in stark contrast to the four legged mammalian creatures, these ones were neither quadrupeds nor were they mammals.

They were octopeds and they were arachnids.

Half a dozen Crawlers— giant spiders standing at over five foot tall and nearly ten foot wide, with metal-like chitinous shells— stood at a flat surface above and ahead of me; some of them looked injured, missing a leg or even missing an eye, but that did not dissuade them from attacking me.

Unlike the Chimera which displayed the intelligence of a smart animal with some wisdom behind its actions, or the Horned Viper which was driven by its territorialism and emotion, these Crawlers showed no decision-making skills beyond pure instincts. They were quite clearly driven from their homes by something, and they were quite clearly hurt. And yet, they charged at me nonetheless.

They ran down the steep decline, unbothered by gravity itself, as they let out an echo of clicks. Some sort of war cry? A tactic for intimidation? To be honest, I found the giant spiders themselves much more unnerving than the sounds they made. They were spiders. I hate spiders!

I watched the Monsters come down at me, before taking a quick look around to ensure that no one was nearby. I saw a faint trail of a plume of smoke in the distance, but it was far and really small, so I assumed it was an old campfire or something of the like. I focused my attention back to the Crawlers, as they edged closer and closer to me.

Seeing this as a good chance to gain some experience, I decided to practice my Geomancy on these Monsters; nothing but earth was all around me, and unlike earlier, it was not soft dirt but hard rock and stone.

I felt at the mana in the ground, and began to cast a spell. I pulled small chunks of rocks away from the ground. From the boulders sitting in the distance. And from the mountain itself.

Tiny fragments of rocks broke apart from their main bodies, flying together, forming multiple spears of stone above my head. The Stone Spears looked fragile, fissured, like pieces of stone crudely put together to form a weapon. And yet, I knew they held firm. I knew they held strong.

Unlike the Frost Javelin, I could barely control where the Stone Spears went. But that was the nature of this spell. The former flew through the air at my command, gently changing its course to where I directed it, but the latter shot out like a bullet— straight at a target, not stopping lest it came into contact with something.

So I carefully aimed the first Stone Spear at one of the descending Crawlers. I judged the speed of the Monster, and fired off the projectile at where I thought it would be. The Stone Spear traveled at such high velocity, covering over a thousand feet in a second. It missed, striking just below where the Crawler would be— I had not only misjudged their descent, but also underestimated the pull of gravity weighing it down.

I sent a second one at another Crawler, correcting the spear’s trajectory to account for previous mistakes, but I missed yet again as the giant spider dodged out of the way. The Stone Spear crashed into the rock wall, shattering bits of rocks out, spraying it like shrapnel in all directions. It bounced harmlessly off the shells of the Crawlers of course, although it served as a distraction for me as it stopped one of them from noticing the projectile flying at it.

The force from the Stone Spear almost crushed the Crawler into the ground, being impaled through its large abdomen, spilling purple blood and ickor out and down the steep slope. I created more Stone Spears as I continued raining the projectiles up at them.

Almost a minute had passed since I saw them, but I had only managed to take two out with the half dozen Stone Spears I flung in their direction. The first Crawler finally came with striking distance to me. It leapt up in the air, mouth open revealing razor sharp teeth like a shark, mimicking what seemed like a snarl—

And a pillar of stone came up from beneath it. Striking it in the underbelly as it was mid jump, tossing it even further into the sky, turning, spinning, before it crashed down the hill behind me, broken by a group of sharp rocks jutting out of the ground. I repeated the tactic on a second Crawler, killing it in the exact same way, before the remaining two giant spiders caught on to what I was doing.

They stayed low on the ground, feeling for the slight trembling of the earth that happened just before I sent a Stone Spire up. And that allowed me to break the ground underneath them instead, creating a small pit they quickly tried to climb out of. But a dark shadow loomed over them as they reached the top. A large boulder, about a dozen feet in diameter hovered in the air above the pit. I released my hold over the naturally formed rock, dropping it down onto them.

The Crawlers were crushed under the weight of the boulder, squirming like a spider caught underneath a newspaper, before it stopped moving. With the last of the Monsters dead, I heaved a sigh.

That was my first time trying out two of those three spells: I had used Stone Spears before back when I was alone in the Free Lands, but I had only ever read about how to cast Stone Spire and Quick Pitfall. Perhaps the amount of time I spent studying it allowed me to learn it quickly in practice, or my control over magic was simply getting better. But it was undeniable that I was putting myself at risk by testing that out in a combat situation. Sure, I had a Wind Blade at the ready the entire time, but there was always the fear in the back of my mind that I might not react fast enough.

It was risky. Yet with more risk came more reward (or that was how the saying went). This was a good learning experience for me. There was no short-term gratification to this. I was not instantly rewarded for my efforts. It did not assure me that I could reliably cast these spells whenever, but it at least let me know I was capable of casting them when needed.

So that put me at ease. I took another quick look around, surveying the landscape, trying to see if anyone could have spotted what had happened. I saw nothing.

There was no one within a mile from where I stood, and I would have been obscured by the hills and rocks if someone was beyond that. The closest road was over ten miles away— I would not have even been a speck in the distance— while the treetops would have blocked the view of anyone closer. I was certain no one saw me.

I quickly glanced heavenward just to be absolutely certain (a stupid precaution predicated purely on paranoia) and was relieved to find no flying-men staring down at me, mouth agape. The sun was high enough now that the sky held a deep blue color, with not a cloud in sight. I shook my head, casting aside my worries before proceeding up to where I first spotted the Crawlers.

I had a feeling. A rough idea of what could have happened. And I was right.

There, I found an opening at the side of the mountain. A cave entrance. One that led to what should have been a natural habitat for various Monster species, but was instead turned into the home for creatures not from this world.

Abominations.

Chapter 16: Extermination

I stood right outside of the cave entrance, and I knew what lay within it. Dried blood painted the walls, while broken limbs, chitinous chunks, and corpses were scattered across the floor. A fight had happened here recently, but something told me this was not the first time the Crawlers tried to take back their home.

I glanced to the side and saw the remains of Abominations. Humans, Monsters, and animals were strewn about— all deformed by the blue bulbous protrusions of those terrible creatures. These ones were dead, their sacs without their light, looking like deflated balloons sticking out of the dead bodies. Some were not connected to any bodies at all, hacked off, and lining the side of the cavern like a kind of cerulean moss.

I took a step into the cave, the sound of my footfall echoing throughout the natural antechamber. It was dark; the light of the sun only reached so far. I should have had a torch, but alas, my inexperience as a Hunter showed in my unpreparedness for this mission. I had to light a torch when I was in the forest— after realizing the shadow of the night would not hide me from any nocturnal Monsters— and now, I had no choice but to use magic.

I took a last look behind me, confirming that there was no one there, before I raised my hand. A spell circle momentarily flashed, and was replaced by a ball of light that illuminated the darkness of the hallway. I pressed on, further and further into the cave. Until all the brightness of day disappeared behind me, and all that shone was the Light spell above my head.

I continued down the naturally formed tunnel, stepping over the occasional body parts covered in the flesh-like blue bulbs, missing their signature yellow glow, having been severed or sprayed out into the floor. There were no corpses of unturned Monsters laying around here, only their trails of blood remained, as evidence that the once dead were dragged further into the cave. I clutched the hilt of my dagger, starting to get second thoughts about this mission.

I came here because I believed the Abominations would not attack me. And that might have been true in Bys, when that stranger in plate armor— one of the followers of that false god— watched over me. However, I knew not for certain if that would be the case now. Just as I started to reconsider my actions however, I turned the corner and came face to face with a group of Abominations.

Five shadows appeared at first, too far away for my light to reach them, yet their disembodied shapes could be clearly made out even so. I steeled myself, pulling out the short blade from my side, readying any number of spells to cast. The five Abominations got closer and closer, walking ever so slowly towards me, quite clearly approaching my direction.

I should have attacked them, but held off for a moment specifically because they were walking. I remembered the Abominations I had seen in Bys. They were no different than the ones I saw right now. And yet, those ran without showing any signs of exhaustion, with the intensity only a body that could not feel pain would allow. These on the other hand… lurched forwards.

So I did not attack. Not just yet.

They came closer and closer. I raised my dagger, bringing a shield up as they finally reached me—

And the Abominations continued past me. Ignoring me as if I were not there. I cocked my head to the side, as the five Abominations headed out of the cave, towards the sunlight.

...should I stop them?

I would stop them. Eventually. But I was curious about what they were doing. So I followed the Abominations, out to the mouth of the cave. And there, I saw the Abominations grab the dead Crawlers— not the ones I killed— and began dragging them back inside.

Once again, they walked past me. As if they were a group of laborers at a market, passing me by as they went about their work. I frowned as the Abominations continued walking, even as I walked amongst them, getting in their paths. This… was clearly unnatural. There was no doubt about it. But it was not unexpected.

I shrugged as I followed the Abominations further into the cave, past the point where I had first seen them. Let’s see where they’re going with this.

There was clearly some sort of nest or den for these Abominations further inside, and I was hoping they would lead me to it; I did not dare touching the Abominations just yet, out of fear that an attack would trigger a reaction, so I stayed out of their way although I followed close behind.

I was right to keep the Abominations alive, as the tunnel split into two paths, which would have forced me to choose one to follow; with the Abominations here to lead the way, I didn't even have to make a decision. However, just as I began down the corridor the Abominations went down, the light from my spell flashed into the other hallway, shining into a group of Vyrbats hanging off the ceiling.

The Monstrous bats reacted as bats normally did when exposed to something bright, and tried to fly away from the light source while squeaking. This attracted the attention of the Abominations, which spun around in an instant. There was a screech as the Abominations heard the noise, then ran back to me from their tunnel, around me, and down towards the other tunnel, chasing after the Vyrbats as they tried to flee.

Can Abominations not see? I decided to test whether the Abominations ignored me just because they couldn’t hear me.

"Um, hey?" I called out, preparing for any one of them to turn around to attack me. But the Abominations continued chasing after the Vyrbats.

Apparently, the Abominations had to have been able to see as well, since I saw one of the bats perch behind a stalactite without making a noise, but an Abomination still leapt up at it regardless. The Abomination covered the distance without much issue, showing once again its inhuman strength—

And smashed on the jagged rock.

The corpse— the body of the Abomination— seemed unharmed, yet the blue bulbs with their faint yellow glow exploded out. Almost like a tomato getting smashed with a hammer, except the tomato was blue in color instead. The Abomination dropped to the ground, not dead, but it moved significantly slower than the others now, with half of its bulbs gone.

Interesting, so the fewer bulbs an Abomination has, the weaker it gets? I’ll probably have to report that to the guild.

I continued watching the Abominations chase after the Vyrbats, until they were nearly out of sight. Realizing that they were probably not going to let up any time soon, I decided to carry out my final experiment, before they got away.

I raised a finger, pointing it at the closest Abomination. A small blue bolt of energy shot out from it, impacting the Abomination at the side, and splattering the blue sinuous flesh onto the cavern wall. I waited…

And the Abomination whirled around, screaming. The other four Abominations followed after it, copying the noises the first made which almost sounded like chirps. They charged at me with the same ferocity they directed towards the Vyrbats.

These Abominations. Demented beings. The perversion of life itself. Their bodies shifted, morphing into the shapes of weapons. Swords. Blades. One brought out scythe-like arms, another had a tendril as a whip. These terrifying creatures charged at me. Echoing their screams. Chittering their warcry—

A single Wind Blade sliced three of the Abominations in half, and a second one finished off the other two a few seconds later.

I sheathed my dagger, sighing. They really are fragile, aren’t they? Another thing I would have to tell the guild. Although I was certain that everyone probably knew that by now, better to be as thorough as possible in my report.

And then I continued further into the cave.

I found another group of Abominations further down. It was a bigger group. A dozen large. They did not attack me, which meant that the Abominations must not have some sort of telepathic hivemind between all of them; it was a possibility for other types of Abominations— something the Hunters Guild told me to watch out for— but now I confirmed that it was not for the regular Abominations.

I did not attack them. Instead, I continued observing them with my Light spell still out. These ones also went outside to collect some bodies, and I followed them once again. They had just stepped out into the sunlight to grab the remaining dead giant spiders when I saw a small round object drop in between them. I heard a clink, as it rolled for a second.

"Wha—" I barely managed to get the words out.

Then the object exploded. Electricity burst out of the object. A chain of lightning connected the nearest five Abominations, all of which were standing at the entrance of the cave. The remaining seven turned and charged out of the cave. The Abominations however, ran straight into the still flashing electricity, shocking themselves and over fell one by one, like flies attracted to a bug zapper.

A figure stepped into the entrance of the cave. A round figure. Big bushy beard. Tanned skin.

It was Gennady.

The Dwarf glanced at me. At the Light spell floating by my side. Then he pointed.

"Hah, I knew you—"

He was cut off by the snare that bound his arms and legs. I sent the spell the instant my shock wore off, and he was now rolling on the ground cursing.

"What in the Hell, woman, why did you have to go and do that!"

"You—" I sputtered, pointing at him while grabbing my hood so it does not somehow fall off the side of my face, "You saw!" I raised my blade threateningly.

"Yes I saw!" the Dwarf yelled, struggling in his bindings. "And I also saw you kill those damned Crawlers out there with your magic!"

"But…" How? The question came out unsaid, as I merely mouthed the words. I made sure there was no one nearby; he could not have possibly seen it, unless he was hiding behind a rock. In which case, he had to have been trailing behind me the entire time. "When did you start following me? Why?" I asked, as he continued squirming on the floor.

"Follow you? I only just caught up!" Gennady exclaimed, rolling over to his stomach, trying to stand up as the magical chains wrapped around him from his legs to his chest. "I knew you were going to try and steal my job, like you did with the Chimera! I had the receptionist inform me if you came back and started asking questions about Abominations."

"So you did stalk me!"

"What? No!" Gennady shouted. "Are ye daft, lassie? I barely even woke up a few hours ago!"

I felt my mind spin for a moment; I was processing what the Dwarf had said, trying to understand how this all made sense. It took me all night and all morning to even get here! How did he…

Then it clicked. A memory of the first time I saw Gennady resurfaced— he was driving some sort of bike. A bike that sent up plumes of white smoke…

I remembered the smoke from earlier; the small white plume rising up in the distance, that I dismissed because of its distance from me. I immediately cursed myself for how sloppy I had been throughout this entire mission. Revealing myself to Felix was fine because I was left with no other choice. But this? This should not have happened, and it was entirely my fault I was found out.

I took a step forward. "I’m sorry it had to come to this, Gennady," I said the words dangerously.

A bead of sweat formed on the man’s forehead. "W-what are you talking about?"

"It was my fault, it really was. But I have to protect myself."

"Are you even listening to me? What are ye on about?!"

"It was—"

The Dwarf cut me off.

"Sacred piss, can you stop yapping for a second and listen?" Gennady screamed, and I paused. He managed to roll over to his back, craning his neck up to face me as he sighed. "I’m not going to tell anyone about this. If I did, I would have immediately gone back after seeing you kill those Crawlers rather than come up here myself!"

"I…" I hesitated. "You won’t?" I asked, lowering my dagger but still not releasing my spell.

"Yes, I won’t!" Gennady nearly screamed his head off.

"And how can I know that you won’t?"

"Because I can do magic myself! It’ll be like turning myself in, you fool!"

Gennady could not raise his arms, per se, but he was able to move his fingers. A small spell circle formed on his fingertips, before a small ball of light winked into existence.

"See?" he said. "Now let me go!"

I stared at the circle filled with a simple pattern glowing faintly at his hand, and then felt the magic coming off from the weak light spell. I chewed my bottom lip, wrestling with my indecision, before finally releasing the magical bindings from him.

Gennady could have been a Dark Crusader, but he would not know who I was, which was what ultimately made me choose to free him; I was still wary of him, but I could at least ask questions while he was standing on his own two feet.

"Finally, took you long enough." He stood up, rubbing at his arms and legs.

"Sorry about that. I was just being cautious," I said.

"Well remind me not to get on your bad side if that’s you ‘just being cautious’. Goddess grace us, what were you even planning on doing to me?" the Dwarf asked.

"Oh, um…nothing?" I mumbled out a reply.

He looked at me blankly. "You were going to kill me, weren’t you?"

"...no," I said, lying.

"What kind of a damned fool are you? Who murders someone just because they see you cast a bit of magic? You could’ve bribed me or threatened me, but you went straight to trying to kill me!" Gennady pointed accusingly at me.

"You could’ve told someone regardless!" I argued, trying to defend my actions. Or intentions. I scowled underneath my mask, folding my arms. "How am I supposed to believe anyone’s going to walk away after seeing this"— I gestured at my floating ball of light— "and keep quiet about it?"

"What are they going to do? Go to the Church and call for some Inquisitors?" Gennady snorted, shaking his head. He stopped when he saw my expression— or lack of expression— and frowned. "Wait, you actually think that’s going to happen?"

"Why wouldn’t it?" I asked, cocking my head.

"Sacred piss, lassie, are you mad? Why would the Holy Xan Empire send Inquisitors over every single claim of someone doing magic? That’d make it very easy to get anyone you don’t like killed. Just go to your local temple and say ‘hey, this guy does magic!’, and you’ll be rid of him forever. Of course not that’s not going to happen."

The Dwarf waggled a finger in the air.

"The worst thing that could happen is the city guards believing the person accusing you, and they’ll try to toss you in a dungeon for a few years. Maybe get some Priests to visit you and cure you. Then they’ll let you go."

"I don’t think I’d like that either," I said simply.

"Well, unless you’re an idiot who wouldn’t leave once it seems like you’ll be arrested, that won’t happen. And this won’t happen in the first place unless the man who spotted you casting spells is some mad fanatic— which most people aren’t. They’ll just take the bribe and stay quiet. Avoid trouble, like normal people do," Gennady said, matter-of-factly.

I held myself back from telling him that my situation was a little bit different from most, since that would reveal too much. Instead, I took a deep breath and apologized.

"Sorry, you’re right. I probably could’ve just ran away or something. I overreacted."

"That’s underselling it, lass," Gennady said, glaring at me for a moment. Then his eyes relaxed as he continued, "But I accept your apology, since I’m alive. I probably shocked you too, coming in like that, huh?"

"Just a little bit."

"I just saw those Abominations and had to act. I didn’t even know you were here until I saw the last of them die, and got excited when I saw that Light spell hovering over your head and knew I wasn’t seeing things."

"How did you even see me kill those Crawlers anyway?" I finally asked the question.

The Dwarf grinned, and just set down his pack. He rummaged through his equipment, pulling out a small cylindrical object which he pulled open to make it longer. It was a spyglass. "This," he said, tapping the lens of it. "I carry one with me at all times, and I just so happened to be looking in the right direction when you began casting those spells. Although it was a blur, I could’ve sworn you were a Geomancer and not a Thaumaturge."

I chose not to confirm or deny anything, and just gave him a curt nod. "I see."

So it was poor timing and the fact that the Dwarf was actually searching for me that led to my supposed slip up; I could very easily breathe a sigh of relief and push the responsibility of my mistake to bad luck, but being unlucky was a state of being for me. I had to have known things would go wrong somewhere and prepared for it better.

There was no use in pointing fingers or wallowing in sorrow. I did that plenty in the past, and I had to focus on getting better for the future.

"So," Gennady started, interrupting me from my thoughts, "this is where those Abominations have been coming from. How did you even find it?"

I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. "Luck, I guess. As you saw, a group of Crawlers were retreating after failing to take back their nest. I ran into them and they attacked me, which led me here."

I was not sure how accurate it was to call being attacked by Monsters ‘luck’, but that was the best descriptor I had for it.

"Aha, and I caught you just in time from stealing all the credit for exterminating the Abominations. I think I took out a dozen, which means I should be getting at least ten percent of the reward," he said, smiling greedily. "Although I would have liked to fight the tougher ones. These were barely even an E Rank threat!"

I decided against commenting on Gennady’s insistence of using his ranking system for Monsters, and addressed the other part of his statement.

"Ten percent of the reward?" I cocked an eyebrow beneath my mask."Why?" I asked.

"What? Are you telling me that you fought more than a hundred Abominations before I arrived? That seems hard to believe. I don’t even see that many dead bodies lying around, and there can’t be that much more inside."

"...you think I already killed them all?"

"Yeah… wait, you mean you haven’t?" Gennady frowned, his beard scrunching up in the process.

"Uh… no?" I said, "I’ve only just got here. I’m pretty sure there are a lot more inside."

"Wait, so why were you just standing around and not fighting? I thought you were tired!"

"I… was observing them." I inhaled deeply, deciding to explain now rather than having to come up with an excuse later on. "The Abominations are docile towards me. They don’t attack me unless I attack them first."

"But that’s… not how it’s supposed to work. I’ve fought groups of them before, lass. And I’ve read all the reports. They attack almost all living beings the moment they see or hear them."

I shrugged again. "Don’t ask me how it works. That’s just how it is for me."

That was not a total lie; I truly did not know how it worked. I knew I was special to the Abominations because they had something to do with those three strangers and their god—sorry, I meant to say jerk god— but the exact details eluded me. So I was telling the truth, even if I was being incredibly vague.

Fortunately for me, Gennady did not ask me to elaborate.

"Hm, if the Abominations aren’t gone yet, then I guess that’s better for me. Maybe we could run into some Horrors or Amalgams. I need to see how strong they actually are," the Dwarf said, grinning at the prospect. "Come on, Aria. We’re gonna wipe out this infestation."

I jerked at hearing my mom’s name get called, before remembering that was my fake name now. "Right," I said, hurrying after Gennady who was already marching further into the cave.

I stepped up beside him as my light spell illuminated the way; his spell dissipated soon after he cast it, having served its purpose in convincing me he would not report me to the local authorities.

"So, are you a Dark Crusader?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could.

"Nope. I’ve met a few Dark Crusaders before. But I’m not one of them," he replied, still walking ahead of me. He slowed down just a little bit, and craned his neck to face me. "You?"

"Same thing for me," I said, once again leaving out any details about my actual relationship with the organization. "I’m unaffiliated. Just a Hunter looking to make some money and survive."

"One would think a spellcaster trying to survive would seek protection from the Dark Crusaders rather than trying to go about it by themselves."

"I… disagree with some of the things they do."

"A philosophical difference huh?" Gennady’s eyebrows rose. "That’s an interesting perspective coming from a Half Goblin."

I remained silent.

"No reaction? At least I tried," he chuckled, looking back to the front. "I do understand where you’re coming from though. The things the Dark Crusaders do— they’re almost no different than a gang, just spread throughout the continent. I understand they’ve gotta do what they’ve gotta do, but when they pretend to be better than their predecessors, it just comes off as hypocritical."

"You think the Dark Crusaders are like the Shadow’s Evangelium?" I asked, scrutinizing the Dwarf’s expression.

"I wouldn’t go that far. They aren’t exactly the same," he said, as we came to a fork in the tunnel.

"That way." I pointed in the direction I had come from, and we continued. "What’s the difference?"

"For one thing, the Shadow’s Evangelium worked in both Vitae and Soli, while the Dark Crusaders are avoiding confrontation in the Holy Xan Empire’s lands unless necessary," Gennady said, now following me. "As for the other, the Dark Crusaders aren’t trying to convert everyone into their way of life. Which is fine by me. Go and resolve your petty squabbles with the Church— just leave me out of it!"

"But aren’t you already a spellcaster? You just showed me you can do magic," I pointed out the flaw in his reasoning.

"Nah, I’m not a real spellcaster, lass." I narrowed my eyes as the Dwarf quickly began to explain. "I can do magic, but I’m not someone who does it regularly. I told you, didn’t I? I’m an inventor.

"I don’t believe there is anything inherently wrong in casting magic. The Church claims that it is a violation of Holy Law, but that just seems like a load of crap to me. Magic, like everything else, is a part of how the world works. And from what I’ve read, manipulating magic is almost eerily similar to working a mana tool. There are distinct differences, like how you can’t just make the mana in a mana crystal do whatever without tinkering with it first, whereas magic has a lot more freedom but a lot more complex in what it can do. But at the end of the day, both are the manipulation of the mana to achieve a goal."

I nodded along, since this was not anything new to me. "What does this have anything to do with being an inventor?" I asked.

Gennady let out a sharp breath, almost haughtily. "Because then it teaches me how mana works as an abstraction. Magic lets me innovate. It lets me create new, better mana tools."

He stopped, putting down his large bag by the side of a wall while I waited behind him. He pulled out what looked like a mix between a miniature cannon and a bazooka, hefting it over his shoulders.

"Ever heard of a spell called ‘Annihilation’?" he asked.

I warily backed away from the clearly dangerous weapon. "Never heard of it," I said.

"Well it’s this Tier 6 spell that’s purported to fire a deadly beam of energy which vaporizes everything in its path. This"— the Dwarf tapped the side of the weapon— "was made to copy it."

I stood there for a moment, just staring at Gennady as he stood proud with his chin proudly held high.

"Impressed, aren’t you? Come on, quit gawking, tell me what you think?"

"I think," I said, glancing away from the weapon and meeting his eyes, "that nobody uses Tiers in magic. I’m pretty sure it’s not a very popular system. So I don’t even know what a Tier 6 spell can do."

"What?" he sputtered, saliva getting all over my mask. It took him a moment to gather himself, before he continued, "Bah, it just means it’s very powerful. It can take out most A Rank Monsters in a single blast!"

I raised a hand. "I don’t know what an A Ranked Monster can do either."

"You—" Gennady deflated, putting the weapon down and back into his bag. "Whatever, it’s not like it works anyway. And before you say anything— it’s supposed to work in theory, but for some reason I can’t seem to fire the damned thing."

The Dwarf picked up his oversized bag, as I had a thought.

"Want me to try—"

I was cut off by a sound further down the tunnel; it sounded almost like a bird— a baby bird that was gently calling out to its mother. Both Gennady and I whirled around, hands on our weapons, both recognizing the distinct chirping noise.

"Abominations," he whispered. "We’re here."

The two of us slowly crept forward. The faint chittering getting louder and louder, but still remaining almost gentle in nature. Eventually, we found ourselves in a larger chamber, one with a small ledge where we stood, and a hundred foot pit leading straight down.

Gennady left his bag of mana tools behind, taking only a single handheld rifle, while I left the ball of light at the corridor behind us; there was no need for illumination here when we were facing Abominations because they themselves would offer us the light source we needed to see. And true enough, when Gennady and I peeked our heads over the cliff edge, there was an ethereal glow.

The radiance of hundreds of luminescent yellow cores, shining faintly through the darkness. The light glowed brighter, then darker. Brighter, then darker. Oscillating. Fluctuating between a shimmer and a glint. Almost like a pulse.

There were hundreds of Abominations at the bottom. The intensity of their glows were not uniform, and more than that, I saw bodies without the blue bulbs sticking out of them, that still had the glowing yellow cores on them. They were… eggs? Or something like that.

It reminded me of fish eggs. Except bigger, glowing, and instead of hatching, it slowly sprouted out bulbous protrusions from the body, creating a second skin that took control over the corpse.

"Holy Hell…" Gennady uttered the Goblin curse softly. "This is my first time seeing an Abomination’s lair. This is how they infect the dead? They’re like parasites!"

They’re worse than parasites. I did not audibly agree with him, but I did mentally say it.

I watched as one of the bodies— a regular antelope— with one of those yellow cores sticking out of its neck stirred. The body had to have been rotting for weeks, although there were no swarm of flies hovering over the corpse; blue flesh had grown over the skin, covering the antelope’s head, neck, and part of its front legs, but it stuck close to the body.

Suddenly, the antelope’s body jerked, the core glowed even brighter than before, shining so intensely that I had to squint for a moment just to see what was happening. Then, the blue flesh began to inflate, turning spherical in shape as it grew larger and larger. The Abomination slowly stood to its feet, letting out a soft chirping noise.

So that’s the sound from earlier. New Abominations being born.

I turned to the man lying prone next to me as we slowly crawled away from the cliff.

"The Abominations must have taken over the Crawlers nest. You can see some remains of webs still hanging around," he said. "Now, we need to destroy it completely. Cause a cave-in or something. There’s a lot of them— and I saw some Horrors too! If we let this mass of Abomination grow even bigger than it is, this could become a repeat of what happened at the Free Lands."

I cocked my head. "...isn’t that what we came here to do?"

"I…" the Dwarf trailed off. He was nervous. Sweat was forming around his neck, and his forehead was a wrinkled mess. "Yeah. That’s why we came. We just have to—"

Gennady froze, staring at something behind me. I did not hesitate, I turned around, lashing out with my dagger, and stopped myself as I saw a woman.

Poking out of the pit was a decrepit woman. Her eyes were hollowed out, and her skin was shriveled up to a ghostly white. Her hair was a tangled mess, dropping down her back as she turned her head, almost as if she was inspecting me. The head tilted lower, and lower, and lower. The head… hung loosely off her body, tilted down at an angle no living being could turn.

Then its eyes snapped open.

Two pure red pupils that shone in the darkness stared down at me, and the woman shrieked. It pulled itself up out of the crevice. The woman rose up, revealing two other bodies holding her up, conjoined into an Abomination, barreling towards… Gennady.

The Dwarf was overcome by shock. He stood, eyes bulging out of his sockets, as he fell backwards at the sight. He raised a shaking finger. "A-amalgam—"

And the Amalgam was consumed by flames. My Fireball launched it across the pit, onto the other side in an explosion.

The sound of the blast was accompanied by hundreds of chittering noises. I immediately hauled Gennady to his feet, as I yelled.

"Try and take out as many as you can! We’ll only bring down this cave if we have no other choice." I did not trust a collapse ceiling to do this job— not when Abominations were involved. We had to ensure they were all wiped out.

My shouting seemed to break the Dwarf out of his momentary stupor. He scrambled for his weapon, and came up beside me at the edge of the pit. I was already hurling spells down the hole when Gennady started firing his rifle.

The Abominations came up like a swarm. Climbing up the walls without any care in the world for falling back down. There were so many of them; enough to have caused significant damage to the city of Locke if they chose to attack now. I launched Fireballs, Wind Blades, Stone Spears— every powerful spell I knew— down at the incoming Abominations.

I had aggro-ed them, and they were now coming for me, no longer treating me like I did not exist. They would not stop until they ripped me to shreds, turning me into one of them. I was trying to cast spells and pre-cast spells simultaneously; it was difficult, and although it somehow worked, it only slowed down my barrage of attacks. Maybe if I had more practice, I could make it more efficient, but for now, it was not helping.

I impaled a group of Abominations with my Frost Spear, as I rained down Fire Arrows upon the entire pit. Gennady’s rifle was somehow more powerful than a regular rifle while just as efficient, yet even with his help, it was still not enough. The first of the Abominations reached the top of the crevice, with more coming right behind it.

"Back up, back up!" I shouted as I blasted the Abomination’s head off.

I was just about to take a step back when I heard a piercing shriek. It cut through even all the sounds of fighting, silencing the Abominations all at once as well. The Abominations climbing out of the pit froze, and were quickly taken out by Gennady and I.

"What… happened?" the Dwarf asked, panting.

"I don’t know," I said, warily edging closer to the pit. The Abominations there had stopped moving as well. They just stood in place for a moment, before they began to lumber their way back down the hole. "What are they doing?"

"There," Gennady said, pointing at the center of the pit. At the very bottom, standing amongst both living and dead Abominations, stood an Abomination that emitted a brilliant glow from its core. It lighted up most of the hole, showing clearly all the figures of the Abominations waiting down there. And I finally saw.

There were not just hundreds of Abominations. There were thousands.

The Abomination that halted them— that saved our lives— stood taller than the rest. It did not have a hunched back, or a limp body, but instead, it stood almost as if it were still alive. The blue bulbs had receded slightly back onto the skin, although they still remained slightly lumpy, but more than that, it also covered the body almost entirely. More than half of the body had been consumed by Abomination, and the core growing proportionally in size along with it.

"Atrocity," Gennady breathed out the word. "That’s supposed to be an Atrocity. Different from the rest somehow. While other Abominations grow stronger and smarter with the more bodies they manage to amass into themselves, Atrocities are an anomaly that somehow only need one.

"I… don’t understand. They’re supposed to be incredibly rare. The Holy Xan Empire claims they never saw them unless there was an Amalgamation about. And even then, only one or two. Why is there an Atrocity here?"

I looked at Gennady, staring with a haunted gaze down at the Atrocity, then down at the Atrocity itself, staring up at us with a keen intelligence in its eyes. Slowly, I shook my head.

"I don’t know," I repeated myself from earlier. "But I guess it’s a good thing for us."

"What? Why?!" Gennady looked at me in shock. "Atrocities are said to be Inquisitor killers— they can be killed by Inquisitors too, but it’s not easy. The recommended protocol given out by the Holy Xan Empire indicates that if an Atrocity were spotted near a city like Locke, all of its citizens are to be evacuated immediately. We need to go back. We need to warn—"

I interrupted the Dwarf by raising a hand. He quieted himself, glancing at it in confusion. Then he screamed at me as Fireball formed on my palms, before I threw it down into the pit.

"What are you doing?"

"Exterminating them," I said, not even looking at him.

I continued throwing Fireballs at the mass of Abominations waiting down below.

"You’re crazy! Insane! You’ll get us both killed! You’ll—"

Gennady slowly cut himself off as he realized nothing was happening. The Abominations were not reacting. The explosions echoed in the cavern, as the wall and ceiling itself shook, but there was no chittering. No swarm of Abominations coming at us.

"Why aren’t they…"

"I don’t know," I repeated myself a third time. "I told you, didn’t I? They don’t attack me unless I attack them first."

"But you’re attacking them right now!" the Dwarf argued.

"Yes, I am," I said simply. "And that Atrocity is stopping them from attacking me back."

I had stopped launching Fireballs down the crevice, fearing for a possible cave-in. I began raining down Fire Arrows and other smaller spells that could be cast rapidly. Abominations fell one by one, being culled ever so slowly.

And the entire time it happened, the Atrocity just stood there, staring up at us. At me. Its eyes never left me, and despite doing nothing else, I felt a shudder go down my spine as it watched me. I continued the onslaught, lighting the pit aflame, crushing the Abominations with falling rocks, and slicing them up with blades of wind.

Eventually, all that was left was the Atrocity. It stood amidst the fire, as a column of smoke rose up and threatened to suffocate me. Amidst the dead Abominations. Then it too fell. Dead.

I slumped over the floor, tired. I had never expended myself as much as I did today. I had been starving, injured, and lost in the Free Lands after I escaped Bys, but that feeling of exhaustion paled in comparison to this. I felt like I could not even feel the mana around me anymore. I could not cast another spell, and I did not think I could even operate a mana tool.

Gennady glanced down at me, opening his mouth to say something. I saw it move, but I heard no words. My vision blurred.

And then I passed out.

Chapter 17: Escort Mission

It was morning when I woke up.

I pushed the nice, thick blanket off of me, as I rolled comfortably off of the queen sized bed. I glanced out the silk drapes, out into the quiet street as people went about their day. I rubbed at my eyes—

Waitaminute, this is not my bed! This is not my room! Where am I?!

I frantically searched myself for all my belongings, and found that I still had everything on me. Just then, the door to the room creaked opened.

"Damned Humans, always trying to rip— oh, you’re awake."

A stout man with a broad chest stepped in, carrying something on his hand. It was Gennady, and he walked up to me.

"I just bought these from—" he started, but was cut off by me.

"W-w-why am I in your room?" I asked, aghast.

"Oh come off it, lass. We’re not in the Puer Kingdom. I just brought you here to rest after you passed out yesterday," Gennady said, snorting.

"After I passed out?" I blinked away my tiredness, trying to remember what happened the day before.

My legs were still sore from walking for so long, and my arms felt slightly heavier than normal but I felt a different kind of exhaustion; an inexplicable emptiness inside of me. It was not like I was drained of energy— it felt more like I was too tired to even access the energy.

Then I remembered the events that transpired: walking dozens of miles, and hiking up parts of a mountain; fighting a Horned Viper and six Crawlers; entering a cave, full of Abominations…

And killing them all.

My eyes widened as the image of the Atrocity looking up at me reappeared in my head. I had to have been casting spells down the pit nonstop for over an hour. There were thousands of Abominations, and they did not attack me; not after the Atrocity saw me.

I almost felt bad about killing them; they were a danger to everyone in the area, yet they ignored me. The Atrocity allowed me to kill them, stopping its ‘friends’ (for the lack of a better term) from attacking me. Especially since it was the Abominations that technically helped save me from slavery back in Bys. I knew the reason had something to do with that jerk god who killed me and brought me to this world, but I did not know why he needed, or wanted, me alive.

My thoughts were quickly interrupted by the smell of food. I felt my mouth watering as Gennady placed a small plate of fried potatoes in front of me. It almost looked like french fries, but those did not exist in this world since neither the French nor did Belgians exist in this world; it was similar— like a fusion of potato wedges and fries, except shaped more like a block. In the plate was also a mixture of some dried vegetables along with small bits of meat.

"Here, you go," the Dwarf said, handing me my eating utensils. "You haven’t eaten in at least a day. Maybe more depending on when your last meal was."

I drew my lips up into a smile as I thanked him. I immediately dug in, consuming everything I could with a ravenous hunger. I continued to chow down on my meal for another five minutes, before slowing down enough to speak with Gennady.

"So," I started, still chewing on a piece of meat, "how long was I out?"

"You passed out before noon, and now it’s a few hours to noon the day after. How long do you think you slept?"

"Almost 24 hours? That’s… a long time," I whistled, before biting a down on a large chunk of fried potatoes.

"It is," he said in agreement. "But it makes sense, given how tired you must’ve been."

"Mhm," I mumbled a sound in agreement. "Got anything to drink?" I asked.

"Here" Gennady passed me a metal flask.

I opened the lid, gulping down a strange liquid. It tasted almost sweet, but with a slight hint of fruit and earth. I lowered the flask and handed it back to the Dwarf. "This is alcohol," I said, frowning. It was strong.

"Yeah, one of the best ones. In fact, it’s probably the best one you can find around here. How do ya like it?" The Dwarf gave me a grin under his bushy beard.

"I was hoping to hydrate myself with something like water, not to get drunk in the morning," I said, voice flat.

"Gah, fine." Gennady sighed, walking to his backpack laying on the corner of a room. He pulled out a bottle of water as he murmured to himself. "I don’t understand you Humans. You don’t let your children drink a good beer until they’re 16. What fun are you supposed to have until then? Y’know, the Taw Kingdom lets Dwarven kids as young as 10 drink alcohol— like 13 in Human years. Once you start growing into an adult, you should be allowed to start drinking too."

I shrugged. "Different cultures, different countries. I don’t think the Free Lands had any legal drinking age. I doubt all Dwarven countries have the same laws too. Same thing with us Humans…" I trailed off, feeling something was off.

Then it hit me like a truck traveling at 50mph.

How does he know I’m Human? Don’t I have a… mask? Where’s my mask?!

I stood up, touching my face. My fingers found skin, and not the cold hard surface of a mask. I realized that I had been eating the entire time, face exposed to the Dwarf.

Gennady snorted in response to what I said, seemingly not noticing me staring at him in shock.

"You know, I knew you weren’t just your average Aria, but to think you were actually a Human girl the entire time? I was—"

"You took off my mask while I was sleeping?" I yelled, pointing a trembling finger at him. "That’s… that’s… a violation of my privacy! Why would you do that?!"

Gennady took a step back, surprised at my sudden outburst. "Now calm down—"

"How can I be calm? What did you do to me last night? How would I know if…" I hesitated, and drew my dagger. "What else did you do?"

"I told you, Aria, I did nothing," the Dwarf backed further away from me, warily eyeing the black blade in my hand. "Listen to me: you fell unconscious after you destroyed all the Abominations, right?"

I nodded slowly, still with my weapon out, and watching out for any sudden movements.

"Then, I had to check if you were fine— if you were breathing. I had to know whether you suffocated from the smoke and whether you were still alive. So I removed your mask and checked your pulse, before running out of the cave with you on my back. After that, I drove you to my inn, and you’ve been sleeping here since. That’s all that happened, I swear it on my beard!"

I raised an eyebrow at that. It was not a skeptical look I gave him, but more of a confused one. "You… swear it on your beard?"

"Yes, m’beard," he said his Dwarvish accent. "If I’m lying, I’ll shave it all off. The size of a Dwarf’s beard makes him more attractive, see? Women love it big!"

I sighed, lowering my weapon and rolling my eyes simultaneously. "That’s inappropriate."

"It was not an innuendo," Gennady said, relaxing his shoulders as I sheathed my dagger.

"I guess I’ll believe you for now. At the very least, you haven’t tried killing me, so there’s that."

The Dwarf took a seat, clutching a hand on his chest. "Sacred piss, girl, this is the second time you tried to kill me in two days. Let’s not make it a habit, shall we?"

"Only if you don’t tell anyone what you saw," I said, reaching for my mask which I found inside of a drawer. I caught myself, realizing that I had no reason to wear it now and that I did not actually enjoy wearing it because of how uncomfortable it felt, then went back to my food to continue eating.

"And you’re not going to threaten me with that thing again to do that, are ya? Make me promise to stay quiet, else you’d kill me."

"No," I said, finishing up my meal. "I won’t threaten you again. I think I’ve done that enough." Gennady snorted, as I took a sip of water. "However," I continued, "I will have to figure out how I’m going to keep your mouth shut. So if you can tell me why exactly I should trust you won’t go telling the Church that the daughter of the Fiend is in Locke, then maybe it might prevent me from doing other unsavory things I don’t like."

I was trying to be threatening with my words, rather than just overt violence; it might seem harsh— actually, it was very harsh. I immediately regretted saying it, but kept it from showing on my face. Next time, I’ll try being a good cop rather than a bad cop.

My guilt only doubled as the Dwarf’s eyes bulged like an insect, as I finished speaking. Was I that menacing? Perhaps saying it while cutting a piece of meat with a knife like in movies really worked. Gennady opened his mouth to speak—

"Wait, you’re the daughter of the Fiend?!"

I fell out of the bed.

"What? You mean you didn’t know that?!" I exclaimed. "You mean I just revealed that myself by accident?"

I’m an idiot! Idiot! Stupid! Idiot!

I smacked my head on the floor a few times, before picking myself up and walking towards a desk to slam my forehead into.

Gennady quickly leaned forward, bringing a finger to his mouth. "What are you doing, keep it down. Stop making so much noise!"

I paused, cocking my head at his reaction.

The Dwarf came close to me, speaking so softly I could barely hear him. "Is that really true? You’re talking about the Fiend, right? Valeria of the Shadow’s Evangelium?"

I bit my lower lip, mentally cursing at myself.

"...yes."

There was no use hiding it, since I literally just revealed it. Gennady walked over to a chair, rubbing at his forehead. "Goddess grace us. That would explain how you were so good with magic. With all those spells you were throwing around, I’d have thought you were at least B Rank like me. Possibly even higher!

"You’re lucky the walls in this inn are thick, lass. If anyone heard you, and if they believed you, you’d have Inquisitors coming down on you in an instant. There’s no way you’d survive the year. Even if you can fight off Inquisitors, they could even send a Saint or a Saintess. And I estimate their average strength to be at S Rank. They’re dangerous. And you should know that."

"I do," I said, realizing that he knew what happened to my mom. And of course he would. Apparently, when the Holy Xan Empire announced it a few months back, they made sure to keep it on the news for over a week. Anyone who had access to a television would know that Saint Theron slew my mom in battle, aided by a group of Inquisitors— conveniently leaving out the fact that they attacked her while she was unprepared and not looking for a fight.

Gennady slumped over in his chair. "Lass, you do realize that these are the things you have to be tight lipped about, right? I didn’t think about it when I saw you at first, but now that you mention it, I can see the resemblance. You should be more careful!"

"I know," I sighed, "but I just thought that you knew. I don’t know why, but I just assumed…"

Every individual of note I had met so far who was unbothered by my magic somehow seemed to easily draw the connection between me and my mom; I mistakenly assumed Gennady would be the same, and let it slip. I need to work on being more covert. I’m too new to this! I resolved myself for the future.

For now, I turned to Gennady who was still looking stressed in his seat.

"What are you going to do now?" I asked, studying any visible changes in how he seemed to regard me.

The Dwarf glanced back at me, and I did not notice any fear; he was unnerved, but by something else other than me.

"I already told you, Aria— wait, that’s not even your real name, is it?"

I did not respond, but he shook his head.

"Doesn’t matter," Gennady said, continuing from where he left off. "I’m not going to tell anyone. I, myself, don’t hold anything against the Fiend. The Shadow’s Evangelium caused more trouble over at Soli than here in Vitae, unlike the Dark Crusaders. What I’m worried about is you, lass."

"Me?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"Yes, you." Gennady stood up, and began pacing back and forth the room. "What are you going to do now? Your mother was one of the most wanted people in the entire world. She was regarded as a danger to any single Saint. If a group of Inquisitors were to have somehow run into her, their orders were to avoid engaging and to simply report on her location. The Mercenaries Guild had a bounty starting at a hundred gold just on getting any verifiable information on her. A thousand gold for her location. And 10,000 gold for her head.

"And that was just the Mercenaries Guild. In Vitae alone, the various countries would have equaled at least that much. And the Holy Xan Empire itself had a hundred thousand gold bounty for the person who would kill the Fiend."

I felt a breath get caught in my throat. A hundred thousand gold? For my mom? "B-but why?" I managed to ask the question.

"For her crimes," Gennady said softly, and cut me off before I could protest. "I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to hear this, but your mother committed many terrible deeds. Perhaps not always personally, but she was one of the core leaders of the Shadow’s Evangelium. They once destroyed an entire city— Xantioch— razing it to the ground and slaughtering all of its inhabitants. From what I’ve heard, there were no survivors."

I wanted to deny it; I wanted to tell the Dwarf that he was wrong. Yet I remembered how my mom avoided talking of her past— how she spoke little of the Shadow’s Evangelium, and pushed me against learning magic. It… made sense.

Even if my mom did not directly participate in such acts, she must have been responsible somehow. Why else would she hide it from me? Why else would she have gone into hiding? I stayed quiet, and Gennady noticed this.

He cleared his throat. "I’m sure your mother was not like this when you knew her, Aria. And there are some other things which made the bounty on her head jump even higher than it should be— inconsequential things like violating Holy Law and trespassing on Holy Lands— but it is true the Shadow’s Evangelium committed grave sins. I don’t know how exaggerated they are since most of it happened when I was still a young lad, however there is some truth to it. And from that truth, you should know you are in danger. The Church will come for you, it is only a matter of time."

My brows arched darkly over my eyes. I felt a sense of dread, trepidation of what was to come. It was a warning, but it almost felt like a prophecy. I knew the Holy Xan Empire would eventually come after me— they would not be satisfied with just killing my mom once they found out I could do magic. Even a Saint— one of their righteous heroes of justice— watched idly by as his friend struck out to kill me for casting a single spell.

Gennady continued.

"I know you say you’re not with the Dark Crusaders, and maybe it’s for the same reason why your mother went into hiding instead of joining the group, but I have to recommend that practicality should hold priority over any moral obligation you feel you might have in this situation. If you want, I know a few members I could introduce you to."

"Not happening," I said, sighing. I looked up at the ceiling as Gennady tilted his head to the side.

"Why not—"

"I already tried joining them, Gennady. It didn’t work out." I clenched my fists into a ball for a moment, then loosed my grip. "It never works out," I whispered, feeling a sense of depression I had not felt since my time as a slave.

I was not sure if Gennady heard the second part of what I said, but he quieted for a while; neither of us spoke, as the clock on the wall ticked a minute away.

"Aria," the Dwarf said, finally breaking the silence. "I only just met you, but I can tell, you’re a good lass. Maybe a bit paranoid, however I know it must be for good reason. I don’t believe I can, in good faith, allow you to just die. So I have a suggestion."

"A suggestion?"

"I told you I’m from the Taw Kingdom, right? Well I’m actually not just an ordinary Dwarf from there, although I probably implied as much. I am an inventor, and I used to be their head Scientist. Until I got replaced by that damned fool from the Holy Xan Empire."

I jerked, head snapping to look at him. "You are— uh, I mean, you were?"

"Yes I was. Is that so surprising?" Gennady asked, folding his arms.

"No! I mean, you said you’re good at Tinkering and I believed you. It’s just that…" I trailed off.

"Just what?" The Dwarf’s eyes bore into me, compelling me to explain myself.

"I thought you might’ve been some kind of exiled Dwarf, you know? Like kicked out from your country because of some disagreement with the King?"

"Hah," he snorted. "Good one! But the King begged me not to go. Adilet gave me another position— he said it would pay well. I left anyway. I did not want to deal with that Human."

"Bertrand?" I asked, remembering him mention that name before.

Gennady shook his head. "It does not matter. What matters now is that my Kingdom would take you in. We may be… allied with the Holy Xan Empire. And we are plagued by the Dark Crusaders constantly whisking away our Goblin population and turning them into thieves and thugs for their own use. But I believe that the Taw Kingdom would be willing to accept you if I spoke to the right people."

"I… heard," I said, glad that Felix was not lying to me and luring me into a trap. "You guys provide asylum to the enemies of the Holy Xan Empire, right?"

"To most of them. The ones that we think would piss ‘em off. Y’know, we even had a division of spellcasters once. Heretics that either practiced magic for their own benefit or were part of the Dark Crusaders whom we arrested, and were given the chance to earn their freedom. The Church threw such a hissy fit, it was hilarious. Too bad it didn’t work out."

"Why didn’t it work out?" I asked. "Did you guys cede to the Holy Xan Empire’s demands?"

"No. They all died during an incident. A disaster." Gennady’s tone became significantly more somber. "And everyone’s been too scared to join it ever since. They’d rather spend a few years rotting in the dungeon before being set free, than risk their lives."

I decided not to press the issue, since it did not look like he was going to talk more about it anyways; I asked another question instead.

"Why do this for me? We only just met, Gennady. How do you know I’m ‘good’, as you said?"

"Other than the fact that you went out of your way to wipe out an entire horde of Abominations when you could have very easily have not done anything about it, and avoided getting discovered for your magic?" The Dwarf placed a hand on my shoulder, and smiled. "You also saved my life. When that Amalgam came up at me and I froze up, you protected me. So I owe you one."

"But I nearly killed you," I said, cringing at the thought.

"Hm, you did try. And you would have succeeded very easily, if you did not give me that entire monologue telling me how much you did not want to do it. Tell me now: do you really think you would have gone through with it?" Gennady asked, staring into my eyes, and I into his.

This was the first time I noticed, but Gennady had a kindly way of looking at people. He might have been loud, and slightly too intimate with people he just met, but he was a good man. His hazel green eyes had a glint to it which spoke of his intelligence, yet one would assume from his personality that he was nothing more than a rough brute; there was a depth to him, just like there was a depth to everyone else, which I found piquing my curiosity.

I hesitated.

Clearly he thought I would have changed my mind in the last second even if he did not show me he could cast magic— that was the answer he already had in his head. Yet, I found myself doubting that; perhaps I was cynical, or perhaps I did not know myself as well as I thought I did, but I did not have as much faith in myself as he seemed to have.

Gennady, however, seemed to take my lack of a response as a confirmation. "Exactly," he said, stepping away from me.

"Are you really going to be bringing me to Taw?" I asked, gesturing at a book on the table. "Don’t you have to complete your bestiary or something? I don’t want to trouble you, Gennady. I’ll accept maybe just a written letter of recommendation? Or a list of people I could speak with."

I did not know why I tried to reject his help; this was a chance— an opportunity that most others would never get. I just felt… uncertain. I did not know why I did, but something unsettled me. Not the man himself— as said, I thought he was interesting.

But Gennady just waved his hand dismissively.

"I don’t know how far a simple letter could take you, Aria. And you don’t have to be concerned about me. I was planning to return soon, since most of my bestiary is complete. Plus, I’m sure the King would like to hear how I’d rank the Abominations. The Holy Xan Empire only provided descriptions, but never what their abilities would be. And from what I’ve seen so far, it seems they either gave us bad information, or outdated information. There should not have been an Atrocity here. Oh, and speaking of…"

The Dwarf pulled out a small pouch full of gold coins, and gave it to me.

"This is for you. The reward for the extermination of the Abominations."

"This?" I rapidly closed and opened my eyes. "This is a lot of gold!"

"I told the Hunters Guild that there were a lot more Abominations than they estimated, and about the Atrocity. So that they’ll be on higher alert throughout the continent. This can’t just be an isolated incident."

"Wait, how did you explain how you wiped them all out?" I asked, still staring at the heavy pouch of gold sitting on the palm of my hands. Is it glittering? I’m pretty sure it’s glittering!

"I just told them I used this," Gennady said, pointing at the bazooka-cannon looking weapon he showed me yesterday. "They don’t know that it doesn’t work, but they know about my background, so they just assumed I was telling the truth. They’re sending people to confirm that the Abominations are gone, but this is the initial payment. If they find that we’re telling the truth, they’ll probably pay us a lot more gold in the future, and we can collect it in any of the big Hunters Guild branches if we can’t just wait here for them to check."

I opened my mouth to speak, but Gennady just shot me a wink.

"Don’t worry, I already took my cut."

It looked up at the Dwarf, then back down to the gold coins. It really was a lot of gold. Almost a hundred. More than I had held in my entire life.

Slowly, I brought my hands forward, whilst bowing my head, offering half the gold to Gennady. The man just blinked.

"What are you doing, lass. I told you—"

"This is a bribe," I said, looking back up. "For you to keep my secret and bring me to Taw."

"What are you even saying?" the Dwarf asked, perplexed at my sudden offer.

"You told me yesterday, didn’t you? Most people would accept bribes and stay quiet. Well half of this is for you to stay quiet, and the other is payment for you to escort me to Taw. You’re a Hunter, right? There are Monsters along the way, and I can’t protect myself," I said, pushing the pouch to the man’s chest. "That’s our contract. An official one— we’ll get it signed under the guild."

"Can’t protect—" Gennady sputtered. "Lass, are you even listening to yourself? You’re a Hunter! Of course you—"

"I’m not a Hunter," I said, cutting him off. "Aria is a Hunter, but not me. I’m just a regular little girl. Someone who needs protection. So will you accept my offer? Do you think the terms of the agreement are fair?"

Gennady furrowed his brow, not out of irritation, but more out of bewilderment. "Personally, I think this contract is skewed in my favor quite significantly. But if you’re trying to give me free money, then I guess I’ll take it. Could probably buy a few Superior mana crystals with this."

I smiled. "Thank you," I said, suddenly feeling better about myself.

"Hah, no worries, lass. Or, do I call you ‘little Missus’ now?"

I paused, not sure of what to say. After a moment’s deliberation, I decided to say it anyways.

"My name is Melas, not ‘little Missus’. I’d prefer it if you call me by my appropriate name," I said, emphasizing the last part to distinguish between myself and ‘Aria’. Although we really were just the same person.

"Alright then, Melas," Gennady said, slapping me on the back. I glared at him, rubbing at my back as he pointed a thumb at himself and grinned. "I’ll be bringing you to the Taw Kingdom safe and sound, don’t you worry about it!"

And unlike before, I was less worried now. I was not sure why he was helping me, but I knew for sure that he had a reason to keep his promise now. I was still uncomfortable, but more reassured.

Chapter 18: Tinkering

"Is there no better way to do this?"

"Sorry, lass. But there’s no space otherwise," Gennady said, shaking his head. "You just have to deal with it, unless you want to hire a carriage?"

"No," I sighed. "That’d be expensive, and I don’t like spending money unnecessarily if there’s a cheaper alternative."

The Dwarven man shrugged uncaringly. "Either way works fine for me. Just make sure you hold on tight onto that hat of yours. Don’t want it to fly off in the middle of the ride."

I nodded curtly, and followed after Gennady as he got on his bike. It was a three wheeled bike, with two front wheels for steering and a single back wheel right underneath the engine; the seat was rather long and at an angle— it seemed to be designed to allow the driver to lean back slightly for comfort. There was also a small storage area at the back, above the engine, with straps to secure any baggage from falling off.

...and that’s where I’m sitting.

I could not sit with Gennady because of how the seat was made— inclined downwards from the back; if I tried sitting there, I would have been pushing down on the Dwarf, which would have impeded his ability to safely drive the vehicle. I did not want to die in a freak car accident that could have been easily avoided, so Gennady suggested that I sat on the place where he usually stored his mountain sized bag, and held onto it to keep myself from falling.

Luckily for myself and the bag, there was enough space and rope for the both of us to share. The only reason this worked was because of how large the bike was: with a length of over seven feet and three feet at its widest, I found myself tied around the waist and seated next to a big brown bag. At least I’ve got a seatbelt.

"Are you sure you’re fine with this?" Gennady asked one last time, as he turned to face me from where he was seated. "This wouldn’t have been a problem if I had a sidecar. Maybe we could make an improvised one before we leave. They don’t sell any here."

"I’m fine," I said after a moment of considering his offer. "It’ll just be a few days' travel, right?"

"Less than a week for sure, unless we get caught up in something. And I doubt anything will happen," he said reassuringly.

I simply stared back at the Dwarf.

Blinking, Gennady asked, "...what?"

"It’s nothing," I said, shaking my head. If I don’t acknowledge my bad luck, it doesn’t exist… right? I tried very hard to will good luck into existence through thoughts alone, however something told me it did not work. "Let’s just go."

"Aight. Hold on tight to your things— I’ll try to drive slower and speed up over time so you’ll get used to it."

The bike’s engine revved as the Dwarf pressed his foot down on the pedal; white plumes began puffing out from the back, covering my face, and eliciting a few coughs from me.

"Oh, and don’t mind that. It won’t be an issue once we get going," Gennady said, looking back at me one last time.

I waved one hand frantically in the air, trying to disperse the unending stream of steam. "Just"— I coughed— "go!"

He grunted in affirmation, and we were off. The mana powered bike drove away from Locke. The small city slowly disappeared in the distance, further obscured by the trail of white vapor we were leaving behind. This is probably bad for the environment.

As Gennady had said, we were traveling at a moderate pace: the wind was gently blowing against my clothes, my purple pointed hat fluttering on my head. I grasped onto it, slightly worried that it would be stolen by the breeze, although I highly doubted that would actually happen.

"So," I called out to Gennady, much louder than I should have. "How does this thing work?"

"Sacred piss, lass!" The Dwarf brought a hand up to his ear. "I can hear you just fine, you don’t need to yell!"

"Oops, sorry." I overestimated the force of the headwind; I had expected this to be like riding in a convertible with its top down, but this was no different than talking to someone while you were both riding a bicycle. I repeated myself. "Uh, how does the bike—"

"I heard you the first time," he snorted.

"Oh, of course."

Gennady sighed, quite audibly to my ears if I might add, which was a testament to how loud I must have been when I shouted at him. "It uses mana just like almost everything else in this world. However, unlike most guns which simply creates pure mana energy, it uses it to generate motion."

I raised an eyebrow. "But this,"— I gestured at the white gas being emitted from the bike— "it’s steam, no?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Most mana tech don’t release steam, do they?" I asked, slightly confused.

"They don't, although many of them still radiate excess energy— that’s why you see smoke coming out of the barrel of a gun after you fire it," Gennady explained. "But in the case of this bike, it was an experiment. I realized it would be more economical to power something through raw, liquid mana. Taking in inspiration from the Gnomes, I created a pseudo steam engine— except instead of burning some fuel source, I simply have to convert the mana into the gas. It’s much more efficient this way."

"Wait, why is that cheaper? I asked, frowning. "And why steam?"

"Don’t ya know anything about how much mana crystals cost, lass?"

"I do."

Mana crystals were expensive. They were made from raw mana such as mana stones or liquid mana. It was like the difference between iron and iron ore. Except, you did not have to melt it down. You simply had to refine a mana stone into a mana crystal.

On the other hand, liquid mana would then have to be converted to a mana stone before it could even be made into a mana crystal; with such a tedious and expensive process to create mana crystals from liquid mana, it only made liquid mana that much cheaper.

It was also an issue of simple supply and demand: there was an abundant supply of liquid mana— just as much as mana stones— but much less a demand for it. So…

"So of course liquid mana would be cheaper!" Gennady finished my thought for me. His loud voice startled a family walking down the road ahead of us, and he waved unapologetically at them.

"Why steam then? Why can’t you make something more… less gassy?"

"I told you, I was experimenting. I would love to actually invent something that makes liquid mana useful— maybe some kind of machine that just converts the mana straight into mechanical energy. No engine or anything attached to do the job for it."

"I see," I said, nodding at the family as we passed them. "Well, as long as it doesn’t produce all this steam with a boiler or something, I’ll be fine with it."

"What’s wrong with it?" the Dwarf asked. "Hate the smell?"

"Mhm, something like that," I mumbled a reply. "Let’s just say I find it very… polluting."

I opted not to say anything else on the subject; pollution was bad and all, but it was not much of a problem in this world with how everything ran on mana power. If liquid mana was being turned to steam, it probably wasn't an issue. And how the depletion of raw mana sources affected the world at large was not something I was an expert on.

Plus, I was a magic user. It would have been hypocritical of me to criticize mana waste, when I literally destroyed the mana in the air with every spell I cast. Allegedly.

I was not sure if I fully believed what the Church said about Hell. My mom seemed to believe that the mana used in spellcasting would return slowly over time. And yet, why was Hell the barren, desolate landscape that it was supposed to be?

It was not something I knew the answer to; in the meantime, however, I pulled a grimoire out of my bag and began studying.

Gennady glanced back at me for a quick moment. "Uh, are you sure you should be doing that?"

"Don’t worry," I said, pointing at the leather bound book. "It’s got a fake cover so no one would know what’s actually in it unless they actually look inside of it."

"Inside of it? What do you— oh, right. Spells." The Dwarf shook his head. "I meant you shouldn’t be reading. You’ll get motion sickness if you do."

"I’ll be fine," I said, waving a hand dismissively. "I used to read on the back of horses or on carts, and I never had a problem."

That was a lie. What I really meant was I used to browse through social media while on the passenger seat of cars and busses. But, there could not have been too much difference, right?

Oh my God, I should not have done that.

"Told you, lass," Gennady snorted, as I leaned over to puke once more.

"Ugh," I groaned, straightening. "I know, I know. Don’t rub it in my face."

"I won’t. I don’t want to get anywhere near your face right now." The Dwarf grimaced. "That’s disgusting, wipe your damned mouth!"

"Wait." I put a hand out. "Not yet. I feel… another… bleghhh."

It took me another five minutes before I could get back on the bike; we were off again quickly enough, but the nausea persisted even after I threw up the contents of my meal.

"Why did you even insist on reading that for," the Dwarf asked, eyes facing forward. "That’s the Essence of the Elements, right? It’s got more theory and history than actual practical spells, doesn’t it?"

"Yes," I said, still curled up in a ball next to the backpack that was as big as me. "I don’t really care about learning new spells. At least, not from any of the books I have. I’ve already read up on all the important spells of note. And I can cast most of them— some I have not tested until recently. I’m actually reading it for the theoretical ideas presented in the book."

"Why’s that? Most of the theories postulated in these old books have already been debunked. If they have been proven to work, it’s probably still somewhat inaccurate, and there’s a much better grimoire or tome out there for you to read."

"I know." I sighed— not because of the question, but because I felt a headache coming over me. "I just don’t have access to those. This is all I have, and if there’s some magical theory in here that actually works, I’m sure I can figure out how to do it. I’m sort of… talented when it comes to spellcasting."

Gennady laughed. "Hah, I would believe most people when they say that. But you? That’s an understatement, lassie. You know—"

"Wait!" I cut him off frantically.

We slowed to a stop. I hopped out of the bike, running to a patch of grass on the side of the road. I hurled once more.

"I think we should take a break for today," Gennady commented, scratching his beard. "There’s a town just ahead. We could probably find an inn for you to rest in."

I raised a weak thumb. "T-thanks."

We arrived at the town a few hours before evening. It was early, but I spent far too long reading while on the road thinking that I could deal with it, until I couldn’t anymore. For the sake of saving money, Gennady and I shared the same room, even though he insisted he should get his own. However, he ended up giving in to my request that we share a room.

The reason I gave which convinced him was simple: he was my escort and if something happened to me while I was asleep, he would not be able to protect me. Sure, I did not have any assassins going after me (at least, I think) but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Now the real reason I had for pushing for this sleeping arrangement was slightly different; I might have ostensibly trusted Gennady with my life, however I still had my apprehensions about him. We only met this week, and I was not sure if he was somehow tricking me. He might have been a Dark Crusader or a member of the Church for all I knew— if he tried to sneak out at night, I would at least be there to catch him if we were in the same room.

We slept on separate beds, of course.

The next morning, Gennady brought me for a quick look around the town market since he wanted to buy some things.

"Superior mana crystals?" I asked, cocking my head.

"Yes," he said, walking just ahead of me. "I took a quick look through Locke, but I already knew they didn’t have any. They probably don’t have any here either, since they’re rare and expensive. Luke is a port city, and the Capital of Laxis, so they probably sell them there. However I just want to make sure— see if there’s possibly any here, and if it’s being sold at a good price."

"Are they that rare?" I mused, remembering the Inquisitors decorated in what were clearly Superior mana crystals. "How much would one cost?"

"It depends on the size, lass. And it’s rare. It’s the second most mana dense form a mana crystal can take. If you want to buy a Superior mana crystal this size"— the Dwarf spread open his fingers, as if he were holding a large pebble— "it would cost you up to 500 gold coins."

I tripped at his words. "500 gold coins?!" I sputtered. "That’s more money than I have seen in my entire life!" That was more than what the slavers thought I would sell for in the Free Lands!

...I'm not sure how to feel about that.

"Don’t need to repeat me," he said, grinning. "Yes, it would probably cost 500 gold. You’re dealing with a military grade mana crystal. And one that big? You could power a dozen Iron Golems for the rest of your life with just that." Gennady pointed at me for emphasis, adding, "And you’re a child!"

I grabbed the Dwarf’s finger before he could snatch it back, and used it to help pull me up from the ground. "That’s… certainly impressive," I remarked stupidly.

"It’s certainly worth the cost." Gennady nodded his head. "However, most Superior mana crystals don’t get that big. Most would require you to pick it up with your fingers, and not your hands. Of course, even a dozen of those is beyond my budget. I can probably get four— maybe five— Superior mana crystals with what you’ve paid me."

We finally arrived at a shop selling some mana crystals. Gennady began looking through the wares as I shook my head, looking at the prices of some of the mana crystals. None of them were as exorbitant in cost as what he told me— probably because these were Inferior or Lesser mana crystals— but some of them, mostly the big ones, sold for over 10 gold coins. Regardless, I still found myself putting a hand over my coin pouch at seeing these prices.

"How can normal people afford these?" I asked, aghast.

The Dwarf paused as he was inspecting a larger Lesser mana crystal. He slowly set it down as he snorted. "They don’t. Normal people don’t need mana crystals like these. These are made specifically for weapons and the like. A regular Inferior mana crystal— like the ones people use for everyday items like a lighter or a lamp— would probably cost a silver at most. Of course, there’s a difference between getting a pure, clean mana crystal that has not yet been tinkered, and buying a mana tool for your own use. Most Tinkerers would sell their tools for double of what they paid to make them." He turned to the merchant managing the store. "Hey, got any Superiors?"

The elderly man shook his head apologetically, and Gennady sighed.

"Thought not."

I was still trying to protect my coin pouch from suddenly depleting just from the price tags alone, when an idea struck me. I tugged at Gennady before he could leave, speaking quickly, "Could you buy me one of these Lesser ones?"

"Why?" he asked, raising a brow. "I’ve got a few on hand, so if you want, I can just give it to you."

"No, I mean I’ll pay for it," I said, clarifying my statement. "I just want you to pick one out for me."

"Pick one out for you?" Gennady frowned, stroking his beard. "Lassie, these ain’t jewels for ya to wear."

"I know," I said, suppressing a groan. "I want you to pick out the best mana crystal to tinker with for a beginner."

"You…" I watched as the gears slowly turned in the Dwarf’s head. "You want me to teach you how to create mana tools?!"

"Yes. And as for the reasons why, we can discuss it at a more private place." I shot a glance to the side, at the merchant who was busy helping another customer. "Just choose one for now, and we’ll talk later."

"Well, if you say so." Gennady picked out a handful of large Inferior mana crystals; altogether, it cost me a gold coin and a half. These were mana crystals specifically cut to make weapons and the like— for Hunters or Mercenaries trying to upgrade their equipment— so it was expensive even for a low grade mana crystal.

We went back to the inn, and in the privacy of our own room, I explained to Gennady, "I want to create my own weapons. Non-magical ones which I can rely on as a Hunter. If you can teach me how to do that— maybe I won’t have to resort to magic so often."

The Dwarf frowned, and I could see his forehead crinkle as he considered this. "I could certainly teach you the basics of Tinkering. Although I’d think you’d do much better as an Artificer, since you can actually cast magic, and do it well. But since you’re saying you want to avoid using magic, I guess that’s out of the question."

"An Arti— what?" I asked, blinking. "An artist?"

"An Artificer," Gennady corrected me. "They are spellcasters who mixed both magic and tools to create their machines. Although they are rare since most spellcasters tend to not be fans of mana tools, believing it to just be a sham mimicry of magic."

"I’m not opposed to learning that as well," I said. "I do want to lessen my reliance on magic, but I’ve also hit a plateau. I’ve learned basically every important spell there is to learn in the books I have with me. There are a bunch of useless ones I’m pretty sure I can cast without even trying— other than that, I mostly just want to find more ways to defend myself." The Dwarf looked at me quizzically, so I quickly added, "In case anything happens."

"You know, lass, you’re pretty paranoid for someone so young." Gennady paused as a thought crossed his mind. "But considering your situation, I guess it makes sense."

I raised my shoulders in a shrug. "So can you teach me?"

"Sure," he said, pulling out a chair. He sat on it the wrong way as he grabbed some tools out of his pocket. He spread them out onto the table, placing one of the larger mana crystals next to them. "Come here, I’ll teach you how to alter a mana crystal so it does what you want it to do."

I glanced over the array of tools the Dwarf had set down; there were calipers, tweezers, iron files, carving needles, and other such items typically needed for lapidary alongside a ruler, protractor, and a compass. I raised an eyebrow. "This is how you tinker?"

"This is one way to do it. Us Dwarves prefer to do it this way. I know the main method the schools over in the Holy Xan Empire teaches on how to tinker differs significantly. However the fundamentals are the same." Gennady reached over to the pen and paper that was on the inn’s desk, and began to draw some symbols on it.

He was not writing down something I could read— they were symbols, almost reminiscent to the style of the Venerable Language which did not use letters like the Ordinary Language did— but they clearly had no meaning to it. Or at least, they were just shapes with no words associated with them.

"These," he said, setting down the pen as he finished, "are the four basic symbols that are fundamental to form the runes for any mana tool to function. Do you recognize them?"

I narrowed my eyes. They certainly looked familiar— more than just looking like the characters for the Venerable Language. Then it clicked. "These are the symbols on magic circles. The shapes that form whenever anyone casts a spell!"

Gennady smiled, but shook his head. "Not exactly, but you are correct. From what I’ve observed, there are slight differences in the way the symbols in a spell circle take shape. Furthermore, the complexity of the patterns formed by casting a simple Light spell would make any Tinkerer give up on even creating a basic light crystal."

I stared at the four symbols. My mind was racing. Mana tools. They worked just like magic, I always knew that. Everyone knew that magic also used mana in some way or another. But this? This felt like I had finally formed a proper connection between the two; as though both were one in the same, just executed through different means. "I… what does this mean?"

"Hmph, I’ve theorized on that quite a bit. I don’t think it means casting a spell is inherently superior to using a mana tool that achieves the same result. I speculate that it’s because of the very workings of magic that gives it its extra layer of intricacy—"

"No," I cut him off. I turned to Gennady, staring into his eyes. "Do people know about this? That the Great Hero Xander based his ‘gifts from the Goddess’ off of magic?" I spoke quickly, like a kid who just learned about Santa Claus, and was asking their parents all about the mysterious red man who gave out presents to everyone in one night.

The Dwarf’s answer, however, made me lose that excitement. "I, uh, yes?" he said, scratching the side of his head. "At least, everyone educated about the history of mana tools would know. The average layperson would probably find this pretty shocking, but it would not change anyone’s perspective on magic."

"Oh," I said, voice sucked dry of emotion.

Gennady saw this, and he hesitated. "Do you, uh, still want to…?"

"Yes," I sighed. "Please continue your lesson."

"Right." Gennady righted himself, and pointed to the symbols on the piece of paper. "These symbols represent the four basic elements: fire, water, earth, air."

His finger passed through each one slowly: the shape for fire took the form of an inverted ‘y’, skewered in half by what appeared to be a small cross with a tail coming out of it; water roughly looked like a man missing his arms and legs lying on his side, with lighting bolts lying parallel above and below him; earth was a square with curved lines inside of it like pillars holding up a structure, with two small dots in the opposite diagonals; and lastly, air was the simplest of all the designs, taking the shape of a ‘Z’ with its bottom half cutting back up through the top.

"And each of these symbols lets you create their elements when you etch it onto a mana crystal?" I asked, leaning in to get a closer look.

"Not exactly," the Dwarf said, and quickly explained. "That’s just how we categorize them. Putting any single one of these four symbols onto a mana crystal will not let you do anything with it. But if you want to, say, create a small spark with a mana crystal, you can arrange four of the symbols for fire in a diamond shaped rune, and only then it would work."

"That…doesn’t sound too difficult," I commented, to which the Dwarf laughed.

"Trust me, lass, it’s not that simple. Not only do each of these symbols have to be equidistant from each other, you’ll have to restart if you get one of the symbols slightly wrong."

Ok, maybe that’s a little bit difficult—

"Plus," Gennady added, raising a finger as he did, "the same rule does not apply for the other symbols. If you want to create a drop of water, you can’t just make a diamond with the symbols for water. In fact, it doesn’t create water, but forces precipitation onto a single point. Same thing with air— the simplest design simply blows air. And earth doesn’t manipulate the ground like Geomancy would, instead, it affects the properties of whatever solid it is in contact with."

...that’s very difficult.

"It’s pretty complicated," Gennady said, as if he read my thoughts. "Once you mix in different symbols together into a rune, you start getting different results. For example, the pattern for a light crystal mostly uses both fire and earth symbols, with a select few water symbols. But don’t worry, there are various books on the subject that outline the various combinations of symbols to give you a basic understanding of how it all works. Right now, you probably just want to practice etching each symbol onto a mana crystal to get used to it, then you can try and create your first mana tool some time in the future."

"I…" I trailed off, realizing how difficult actually learning a proper skill was without any cheatlike powers to help me. The Dwarf noticed my apprehension, and lightly slapped me across the back.

"What’s wrong, lassie? Already giving up, eh?" he chuckled. "I know it’s much, but once you get the basics of tinkering down, you can probably focus on being an Artificer. You’re good with magic, so that’s probably a better route for you to go down rather than wasting time learning all the in depth details of being a Tinkerer."

I stared down at the four symbols drawn on the piece of paper, then at the set of tools sitting next to the unaltered mana crystal; I felt my hands balling up into a fist, as I stood there conflicted. Before I finally decided.

"No," I said. "I’m not giving up. And I’m not just going to take the easy way out by becoming an Artificer. Sure, that’d be a good skill to have, but so is learning how to tinker. I’ll do it." I reached for the mana crystal and one of the carving needles. I firmly gripped the large crystal in my right hand, and saw my reflection on it.

This was something I had to do. There was almost no reason for me to pick up this skill. Why would there be? As Gennady said, I was good at magic; the best in the world, as evinced by the ease at which I learn new spells. And yet, that was not something born from me. It was something that jerk god gave me when he tricked me into coming into this world after murdering me.

I was a practical girl: I would use whatever tools I had available as a means to survive. And yet, my time as a slave made me realize that I hated having no control over my own life. The feeling of uselessness— as though I had no say in how things went— was overwhelming. I did not want my only achievement in this world to be something I was given at birth, especially considering that it was not even chance, luck, or fate that determined this. It was by the hands of that false god who seemed hellbent on making my life miserable.

Of course, I would still use magic. But I was going to learn this as well— as a backup if magic ever failed me.

"I’ll do it," I repeated myself. I turned to Gennady, meeting his gaze. He nodded slowly in response.

"Very well then," the Dwarf said. "But first," he coughed politely into his hand, "you might want to put down the carving needle. That’s not needed until later."

"Oh," I said, blinking.

"You can’t just etch the symbols onto any mana crystals surface. It has to be smoothed out first, lest it ruins the runes you want to create."

"Right, of course."

Duh. Don’t get ahead of yourself, idiot!

Chapter 19: Adrian III - Field Trip

"Are you excited?" Alice asked, plopping her bag on the table.

Adrian glanced up at the blonde girl, then down at the large pack she placed on his desk. "Are you really bringing all that?" he asked.

"Of course!" the girl exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face. She brought her face over excitedly— maybe a little too close— chattering as she did. "Come on, Adrian. We’re going on our first field trip! They’re bringing us to Defenor Forest, and they’ll have us investigate the flora, observe the wild animals, and even hunt some Monsters!"

The boy leaned back on his chair, and shrugged. "It’s just Kobolds, Alice. They’re everywhere, and they’re not really that menacing. I wouldn’t even normally consider them to be Monsters. They’re just like… rats."

"They’re like rats that can bite your head off and walk on two feet." Alice folded her arms petulantly.

"Really big rats," Adrian said, nodding.

Alice stared back at the boy blankly for a moment. Then she sighed. "Fine, maybe Kobolds aren’t too much of a problem for adults, and sure, they do keep the population of Kobolds in the forest down specifically for us students to train in— but we’re finally getting our chance to prove ourselves. Everything we’ve learned in the past six months can finally be put to use!"

"I guess."

"What kind of a reaction is that?" the girl asked. "Don’t you have any passion for what we’ve been studying?"

Adrian paused. He considered this, thinking about his time in Xander’s Academy so far and how it had been marked with mostly boredom, highlighted with some strokes of bullying and getting reprimanded by the teachers.

"No," he said. Alice glared at him, and he just shrugged. "What do you want from me? History is boring, mathematics is boring, science is boring— classes are boring."

The girl snorted. "And somehow, you’re among the top in the class for all those subjects." She shook her head. "I don’t know how you do it. I can’t dedicate as much time into studying as you do if I don’t enjoy it."

And that’s the difference between you and me, Adrian thought. He was not a noble. Sure, Alice was not one either. But she was born into a rich family— a family that ensured all her needs were tended to. A family that expected her to inherent their legacy and excel in everything she did.

Meanwhile, Adrian knew what it was like growing up with no particular ambitions, and simply living day after day. He thought he would have simply grown up in Villamcreek and eventually replaced his father as the village hunter. He thought, perhaps, he could grow up and marry Melas, living a peaceful life with her. That did not happen, of course.

So that was his drive. That was why he came to Xanderia. And that might have been the reason why he was able to push himself so hard day after day. If he were to use all the resources at his disposal, he might be able to find Melas again.

The classroom door swung open, and their martial and combat arts teacher came strutting in. "Enough chit chat," he said, silencing the noisy classroom. "Back to your seats."

Alice quickly grabbed her bag, but before she left, she hurriedly said, "I hope we’re in the same group. I’m not sure what I’d do if I’m alone with a bunch of nobles."

"Don’t worry," Adrian reassured her. "There’s no way they’ll miss the chance to pair up the only two commoners in our class."

The girl raised an eyebrow at that, but did not respond. Adrian watched her quickly run back to her seat as the class slowly organized itself.

The teacher, a man named Lucas, stood behind the desk in front of the blackboard. He placed both hands into the wooden table, leaning his body weight into it as he addressed the class.

"Alright, I know you lot have been excited for our trip to the Defenor Forest," he spoke with a gruff voice that seemed unbefitting of a noble. However, he was a Knight— or at least, he had been a Knight. Apparently he lost his title due to an incident with a Baron, forcing him to lend his skills to Xander’s Academy.

It was a typical noble drama. The Academy seemed to be full of it, but it was supposedly far less prevalent than in the real political world of the nobility. Adrian shuddered just imagining what that was like. The former-Knight continued.

"However, I have to warn you not to let that excitement get to your head. Obey my orders at all times, and remember that this is an exercise meant to get you used to real dangers and combat. This is nothing like the fancy dueling many of you have learned during our classes— you can’t expect a Monster to retreat when you stab it, nor can you expect it to charge when you lure it in. And this holds not just true for Monsters, but if you decide to join the military, you’ll face people who behave that way as well."

Adrian frowned. The Holy Xan Empire’s last war was decades ago, during the Free War. Of course, there was the ‘conflict’ with the Dark Crusaders, but that was mostly, from what Adrian had learned, Inquisitors running across the continent of Vitae trying to pin down the organization. It was not a real war, and neither was it too high in the Holy Xan Empire’s priority list since it was a problem on the other side of the world.

Someone raised a hand, and Lucas turned to them. "Ms Onia, do you have a question?"

"Yes, Mr Lucas. May I speak please?" the pink haired girl asked politely.

The man nodded. "Go ahead.

She stood up, and did a slight curtsy. "Thank you, Sir," she said, smiling sweetly. "I was under the impression that this field trip would not be dangerous because we would have an escort. From what I hear, this year, our class will be getting a… Holy Knight?" Her eyes were twinkling, as she spoke the last part.

Immediately, a hushed murmur broke out through the class, before quickly being silenced by the teacher. "That is correct. I will, of course, be accompanying you during this trip. However, I am only one man, and I can’t manage you all. We will be getting a guest from outside of the Academy today— well, I say that, but he’s an alumni from this school. And he will be helping me ensure that no one dies on this trip."

Again, students turned to their neighbors and began whispering to one another, gossiping about who this mysterious guide could be. Adrian did not see the appeal to it— he had met a Saint and an Inquisitor. Holy Knights, while considered to be an elite force within the Church, were significantly more abundant than Inquisitors.

Lucas raised a hand, cutting off all the silent chatter. "However," he said, emphasizing the word. "That does not mean there is no danger to this trip. Our jobs will be to keep you alive, not safe. That means if you get hurt— break a bone, injure your leg, or get cut across the face— we will not rush in to help you, unless it’s a life threatening situation. So do not mess around, and treat this trip seriously. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sir," the class chorused, almost as if their teacher’s warnings went completely over their head.

The teacher sighed. "I’ll bring him in now."

Adrian watched Lucas leave the room, and in that minute of reprieve, the class exploded into dozens of conversations.

"Who do you think it is? I hear he’s going to be someone important."

"My father told me he’s from a Ducal house."

"Could he be a Captain? Imagine meeting a Captain of the Holy Knights—"

"I hope he’s strong! Then I can ask him to show me some moves—"

"I just hope he’s handsome—"

Some of the comments were not like the others. Children, even if they were noble children, were always going to act like children. Under their prim and proper upbringing, there would be a layer of immaturity to them. Adrian saw that in himself back when he was in Villamcreek. He observed it in all the other children there too. In all but one.

The door opened once again, and in stepped their ‘guest of honor’— he was supposed to be a bodyguard, he might as well have been a guest of honor with the way the class was treating him even before he arrived. The man turned the corner, and everyone waited with bated breath.

At first, Adrian paid the man no mind. He came in fully armored, decorated with emblems and crests on the chest and shoulders of the plate. The class, of course, nearly exploded in excitement just from that. The man was quite clearly a high ranked individual, as evident from the way he was dressed.

And yet, the excitement did not stop there. The man slowly lifted his visor, and pulled of his helmet to introduce himself.

Adrian almost groaned as he watched all the girls in the class immediately ogle the man. Even Alice was staring at him, despite trying to do so in a not-so-obvious way.

The boys in the class were not too interested in that. Although they were shocked to see how young the man was. He had to have been in his mid to late 20’s at most. How did someone so young get to such a high rank! He had to have been incredibly skilled and gifted.

And Adrian? He thought he wouldn’t care, yet his eyes widened. Because the man had...

Black hair.

It was a rare pigment for Humans to have. It was not unusual to see an Elf with hair of that color, but the same was not true for Humans. And that man was a Human.

He introduced himself.

"I am Nero Ash Corinna. Captain of the 5th Battalion of Holy Knights, and second in line to be heir of the Corinna Dukedom. It’s a pleasure to meet you all."

The class once again broke into an incomprehensible chatter, but Adrian could not hear any of it. The words still echoing in his head. Corinna. That was Aria’s family. Her noble house.

No, he corrected himself. It’s Melas’s noble house.

Xander’s Academy was already situated close to the outskirts of Xanderia. Defenor’s Forest was even further out from the Capital city of the Holy Xan Empire, 20 miles west of the Academy’s main campus.

Adrian sat, alongside the rest of his class, inside a bus, heading to said forest for their field trip. The boy had seen the vehicle a handful of times since he left Villamcreek— mostly in Xanderia— however he had never been on one prior to this day.

He had rode on horseback, taken a train through the Rem Republic, and even boarded a flying ship to come to Soli! This experience was nothing special to him. And it certainly was not giving him motion sickness.

At least, that was what he told himself as he clutched his stomach while groaning in his seat.

"You ok?" Alice asked with a worried look on her face.

"I’m fine," he said. "Just… not used to— ugh." The bus hit a bump on the road, and the boy nearly doubled over in agony. Alice placed a hand on his back, gently patting him.

"We’re almost there," she said reassuringly. "Just handle it a little longer."

Adrian was not sure if he could survive for ‘a little longer’. He felt like he was probably going to puke if they did not stop at that moment. The boy was just about to get up to ask if they could stop, when he saw Onia staring at him.

The noble girl was quite clearly taking amusement in his suffering. She had not bothered him since their duel, but that did not stop her from laughing at him behind his back. And Adrian could definitely hear her obnoxious snickering from where he was.

The boy lowered himself back to his seat, and straightened. I’m fine, he tried telling himself. You were on a flying ship, Adrian. This is nothing compared to that. He conveniently omitted the fact that he was given multiple nausea potions to help him get through the flight, and he still was air sick for most of those four weeks.

"Why am I the only one here getting sick?" Adrian muttered under his breath. He was complaining to himself, and did not expect an answer. However, Alice heard him and quickly responded.

"Well, I think it might be because we’re used to it," she said. "I’ve taken carriages for travel ever since I was young, and even been on my father’s car a few times. This is not too different, I think. That’s why most of us are fine."

Most was, of course, an under exaggeration. Other than the Half Elf boy in their class who seemed mildly uncomfortable, everyone else was completely unaffected. In fact, they were so unbothered by being on a bus, many of them were still crowding around the Holy Knight, Nero.

Ever since the man came to the class, all the way until now, he had been barraged with nonstop questions and adulation by pretty much everyone there. Adrian could tell Alice too wanted to approach him, but she was far too intimidated by all the other noble children crowding around him.

"Why don’t you just talk to him?" Adrian asked, to both change the subject and distract himself from his motion sickness.

"What?" Alice looked aghast. "I can’t! Our stations are too far apart. I’m just a measly commoner."

"He doesn’t know that."

"I…" the girl trailed off. Adrian stared her, cocking a brow. She shook her head. "But the others will stop me from speaking with him. They’ll tell him that I’m not a noble— I’m fine, Adrian. I am content with just sitting and watching from afar."

Adrian frowned. That sounded exactly like him in the past. Back when he wouldn’t dare to even speak with Melas because of what his parents said about her mom. And he hated himself for it— because of that, he only ever got to know Melas for a few months before her mom was killed and she disappeared.

"You should at least try," Adrian said, looking up to the ceiling. "If he’s really a good person, then he’ll still speak with you even if the others try and stop you."

"But—"

The boy turned to face Alice and met her gaze. "And if he doesn’t, then I guess he wasn’t someone worth talking to in the first place."

She paused, and Adrian tried to smile. It was not a dashing smile, but a forced smile since he still very much felt like throwing up.

"Who isn’t worth talking to in the first place?"

Adrian spun around, blinking.

"Lord Corinna!" Alice gasped. "We were just talking about... I mean we weren’t talking about…"

The black haired man gave a charming smile— the one Adrian failed at doing. "There’s no need to be so formal," he chuckled. "Please, I’m here as a representative of the Holy Knights, not as a member of my house."

"Of course, Sir! I’m sorry for that, Sir!" Alice worked her tongue so fast Adrian could barely even understand her.

Nero just nodded. "May I sit with you?"

Adrian hesitated. "I don’t know if there’s enough space—" he started, and was promptly shut up by Alice.

The girl clamped a hand over his mouth, speaking over him. "Yes! It would be our pleasure!"

She dragged Adrian to the side, forcing him to scoot over and give the man a place to sit. It was not exactly cramped even with the three of them. Adrian thought the seats were designed to fit three grown adults in each half row, yet he tried to use the lack of space as an excuse. And that was because he did not want to talk to the man.

This was a man from Melas’s extended family. A family that disowned Aria, and publicly celebrated her death when it was finally announced to the world. Even just sitting next to Nero, Adrian could not help but feel a sense of revulsion building up inside of him.

Calm down, the boy told himself. You don’t even have to say anything. Just let Alice do all the talking, and maybe he’ll eventually leave.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. Now that they were seated next to Nero, Alice was suddenly deathly quiet. Adrian could see her face burning red as her eyes constantly darted between the man and the ground.

"Hm, that’s odd," Nero said, with a hand on his chin.

"Uh, is something the matter Sir?" Alice quickly asked as Adrian stayed quiet.

"Oh it’s nothing, Miss…?"

"Alice," she squeaked. "And this is my friend, Adrian." She nudged the boy, clearly trying to get him to speak. He didn’t.

"Ah, Ms Alice and Mr Adrian." The Holy Knight nodded, and turned to the boy. "I came here because I heard one of you had motion sickness. I wanted to offer you a potion for it, but it seems that I must have misheard."

Adrian scowled. Onia. She was probably trying to ridicule him in front of Nero and it backfired, since he was with them now.

Then Adrian realized what Nero had said. He slowly lowered a hand to his stomach, but the numbness was gone. He felt better. His intense focus on the Holy Knight distracted him from the bumpy ride to the point he felt nothing.

"You’re too kind," Alice said. "But you needn’t worry yourself with us. We’re just commoners, not worth the time of your esteemed presence."

Are you trying to get him to leave or stay? Adrian retorted in his head. Although he wouldn’t mind if the man left because of that. He was using every ounce of his strength just to hold himself back from glaring at Nero.

Nero just shrugged. "Commoners, nobles, what’s the difference?"

This time, Adrian was taken aback. He felt like Alice in that he was unsure what to say.

"Sir! You can’t mean that!" Alice was horrified. And Adrian would have been too— the man might have just been testing them.

But he doubled down on his statement. "I mean it, Ms Alice. In my opinion, there’s no difference between me and you other than the family we were born to. That does not make me superior to you, nor does it make you inferior to me. You’ve proven it by entering Xander’s Academy, no?" Nero leaned back on his seat, before adding, "Plus, Saint Theron had to have taken an interest in your friend for a reason."

He knows? Of course he did. Everyone of Adrian’s classmates knew that the boy was sponsored by Saint Theron himself. But they had a reason to know since they were in the same class. Why would a Holy Knight Captain and possible heir of a Ducal house bother to learn of such a minor detail? It was not something any random noble would go out of their way to learn.

However, he was not a random noble. He was of house Corinna. And everyone knew Saint Theron was the one who killed the Fiend— the disgraced daughter of said Ducal house. So there was only one reason he could be here.

And if the man’s piercing gaze were any indication, Adrian’s suspicions were correct. The boy shifted as Nero continued to scrutinize him. "...what?" he finally asked, breaking his silence.

The black haired man lifted an eyebrow. "I’m just curious as to what the Saint found so intriguing about you that he brought you all the way from the Rem Republic to Xanderia for," Nero said. "I do admit, from what I hear you are indeed quite talented. Yet, there are countless other children in this world with untapped potential, but he’s never once brought them back. Instead, he chose you."

"...does it really matter?" Adrian had to stop himself from snapping at the man. Nero was not being rude— in fact, most would’ve taken that as a compliment. But the boy could tell that Nero was probing him, and that made him uncomfortable.

Nero continued to inspect Adrian for another moment, before he sighed. Whatever it was he saw, it was clear he realized he could not get anything out of Adrian. Adrian nearly sagged in relief, when the man spoke.

"What was she like?"

Adrian froze. He felt his entire body stiffen. There was only one ‘she’ the man could be talking about, and although Adrian expected something like this, he did not anticipate that the man would be so direct about it.

"Let me rephrase," Nero said, clearing his throat. "Was she like what they made her out to be? Was she really evil?"

The young boy slowly turned to face the Holy Knight. He ignored Alice’s confused looks, and he found himself staring into the deep blue eyes of the nobleman. There was genuine curiosity in them— a longing to know the truth.

Adrian could have played dumb. He could have given a fake answer. But something screamed in him to tell the truth— to go against the narrative written and believed by everyone else in the world except for himself and Melas. So even if this implicated him as some sort of heretic sympathizer, Adrian spoke what he believed was true.

"She was not."

Nero paused. It took the man a moment to absorb Adrian’s response. Then he nodded. "I see," he said, standing up. "Now if you’ll excuse me, it seems like we’ll be arriving soon. I have to speak with Lucas and plan with him to ensure you’re all safe. It was a pleasure speaking with you two fine young children."

Adrian hesitated, but he eventually answered, "Likewise."

Alice took a moment longer to gather her response. "Oh— uh, of course! We were honored that we got to speak with you!"

Nero chuckled, but he did not say anything else. He turned around and headed to the front of the bus as Adrian watched him approach the teacher. A second after the man was gone, Alice pulled Adrian into a hushed whisper.

"What was that?" she asked, voice masking no confusion. "What were you guys talking about?!"

Adrian shrugged. "Secret."

"What? How do you have a secret with a Holy Knight? You’ve got to tell me—"

Perhaps one day, he would tell her the truth about the Fiend. For now, the boy said nothing.

Chapter 20: Adrian IV - Deal

"I can’t believe it," Onia sighed.

"I don’t like this either, but you don’t hear me complaining about it," Adrian said, ignoring the glare the noble girl gave him.

"It’s bad enough that I get grouped up with the half breed"— Onia gestured at the Half Elf boy standing off to the side— "but I have to deal with both commoners too?" She turned to the other noble in their group— a girl with pale green eyes and brown hair with orange streaks— and spoke to her, "Ilyse, please tell me I’m having a nightmare."

"Unfortunately not, Lady Onia. If you were, I’m afraid to tell you that I am experiencing it as well."

Adrian was about to retort, but Alice stepped in front of him and spoke quickly, "Um, Lady Onia, Lady Ilyse, I know we’ve had our differences. But why don’t we put it all behind us for today. Mr Lucas said it’s too dangerous for us to work alone, especially for our first time facing Monsters. That’s why we’re in our groups."

"Dangerous?" the pink haired girl snorted. "Maybe for commoners like you who have never seen a Monster in their life. I’ve seen Kobolds, and I’ve killed them too. This is hardly a new experience for me."

Adrian could not contain his annoyance any longer. They had been together for a total of 15 minutes, and he finally had enough. "I am so sorry that we had to be in the same group as you, Lady Onia. But unlike your maids and butlers who babysit you when your daddy brings you hunting, we won’t help you if you’re being killed by a pack of Monsters."

Onia paused. She eyed the boy with cold eyes. "Don’t think too highly of yourself just because you cheated to beat me, Adrian," she said dangerously. "I could have you and your girlfriend killed and nobody would be any the wiser."

Alice visibly paled, but Adrian just met her gaze. "Why don’t you just do it? Maybe then I’d be spared from seeing your reptilian-like face every single day."

The noble girl walked up to Adrian, and the boy just folded his arms. Ilyse tried to pull her back. "Lady Onia, it’s not worth it—"

But she just continued on. "Maybe I will," she said, finally stopping right in front of him. "It’d be a service to every student in the Academy to be rid of you two."

"Adrian, I think that’s enough," Alice quickly spoke out, trying to stop the boy from saying anything else. However, he just shook his head.

"No, Alice. There’s no reason to be afraid of her. She’s just a rich, spoiled brat who never had to work a day in her life. I wouldn’t be surprised if they paid the Academy just to accept someone as talentless as her."

"You know nothing about me." Onia’s eyes flashed, fury blazing in her pupils.

"I know enough—"

"Guys," a voice cut Adrian off. It was neither Alice nor Ilyse who spoke, but instead it was the other boy in their group, Faizan. "Look," the Half Elf said, "there’s one."

Adrian looked at what he was pointing at. It was a small, almost-hidden, pale green plant underneath a rock. It was a Pixie Bud.

The purpose of the field trip was simple: the class had been split up into nearly dozen groups to go explore the Defenor Forest. They were to observe the local wildlife and write a report on them, hunt down any Monsters in the area to help cull their population from growing too large, as well as gather any herbs or plants that could be used for Alchemy. A Pixie Bud was probably one of the most important of such ingredients.

Alice walked over to the Half Elf and peered over at the plant. "Why’s there only one?" she asked. "Aren’t they supposed to come in clusters?"

"They are," Faizan said, carefully divoting the dirt below the Pixie Bud. He placed it into his basket and turned to the blonde girl. "They don’t grow too close to each other because of how each one affects the flora around it. That’s why each Pixie Bud is so rich in mana. But there should be more in the area, we just have to search for it."

Onia huffed, flipping her hair— currently tied into a braid— back. "You go ahead and do that, half breed. Ensure every Pixie Bud around here is gathered. Ilyse and I will return in an hour to check on your progress."

"Where are you going?" Adrian narrowed his eyes. He would have preferred it if the noble girl were gone since he did not have to interact with her, but he was not going to let her slack off while they did all the work. "Don’t think we’ll do your work for you, Onia."

She frowned at the use of her name without any title, but did not comment on it. "Why, commoner, I’m being efficient. We’ll divide up the work— you three can stay here and do this boring task, while I will find us some Kobolds to kill. It’s not like you’ll be of any help regardless, so try and make yourself useful here."

Adrian held himself back from snapping at her. "Fine," he said. "Go ahead and get yourself injured by Monsters. But when Mr Lucas asks us why we weren’t there to help you, don’t go laying the blame on us."

Onia scoffed. "I wouldn’t even think of it. If something were too much for me to handle, I sincerely doubt your presence would make any difference." With that said, she turned around and walked away. "Come on, Ilyse."

"Yes, Lady Onia." The other noble girl hurried after her. Adrian watched them go, opting not to say anything.

"Are you sure we should just let them leave?" Alice asked, a worried look on her face.

Adrian hesitated. He stared at the two figures as they disappeared behind a thicket. Then he turned back to Alice. "Yes," he said. "The worst thing that could happen is we get into trouble for breaking off into smaller groups."

The girl looked unconvinced, but she didn’t argue. "If you say so…"

"I think that’s all of it," the Half Elf boy said, slumping over.

"Thanks, Faizan." Adrian placed a hand on his shoulder. "We couldn’t have finished up so quickly without you."

Faizan looked unbothered by Adrian’s casual use of his name. Adrian knew his family was from a lower noble rank— a Baron, if Adrian remembered correctly. But he would have thought that the other boy would have been at least slightly concerned with formality.

Adrian didn’t mind it; it was better for him that way. He did not enjoy using titles, but he would have done so if Faizan requested it— he liked the Half Elf enough that he would do that for him.

"How did you know where to find all the Pixie Buds were?" Alice asked, looking amazed. "I’d have thought it would take an hour or more to find as many as we did."

"My… mother taught me," Faizan said, hesitantly. "She’s an Elf, and she was born in Ghab-Ha. So she’s good with nature. But I’m not— compared to real Elves my age, I’m nothing."

Adrian frowned. Faizan had to have been around 20 years old from what he could gather, although the other boy was only slightly taller and more mature looking than him. That was young for an Elf, but slightly older for a Half Elf. Regardless, Faizan should still have been considered a child who was only starting to hit puberty. As far as Adrian knew, Faizan seemed rather talented and knowledgeable.

"It’s a compliment," Adrian said, "don’t put yourself down." He gave the other boy as reassuring of a smile he could give, and gestured toward the baskets full of Pixie Buds and a handful of other ingredients that could be used for Alchemy or Herbalism. "Let’s just go bring this back. Then we can find something to observe and write about while we still have time."

"R-right," Faizan said, nodding.

The three children began heading back to the large clearing near Defenor Forest’s exit. The forest had been developed because of the resources it provided to Xanderia, as well as its usefulness serving as a recreational and training area, which meant there were roads and small paths guided alongside signs throughout the place. Adrian, Alice, and Faizan simply followed one such pathway back to where they came from.

"Hey," Alice said urgently, tugging at Adrian’s shirt, "what’s that?"

Adrian blinked. The girl was pointing at something off road at a distance— stalking behind some bushes and trees. It was…

"A Kobold? No— they’re supposed to be bipedal, although they usually walk around on all fours. But that’s not a Kobold." Adrian felt for the weapon hanging around his waist. It was not a training sword with a dulled edge— they were here to kill Monsters. They had been trained to use proper weapons, and this was a test to see how well they could actually wield them.

"It’s a wolf," Faizan said, not even squinting. Adrian could barely even make out the animal, but the Half Elf’s superior vision let him see objects almost twice as far as a regular Human. "A Dyre Wolf, to be specific. They’re mostly docile Monsters, unless they’re hungry. In which case, we should avoid them at any cost. They’re as dangerous as a pack of Kobolds. Although by the looks of it, that one seems to have already found its prey."

Adrian leaned over to look at where the other boy was pointing. True enough, the Dyre Wolf seemed to be tracking something. It was following a pair of Kobolds, minding their own business.

"Should we tell Mr Lucas about this?" Alice asked. "Since they’re dangerous and all."

"No," Adrian said, shaking his head. "A single Dyre Wolf is much of a problem by itself. Although I didn’t think they were native to this area. I always thought Crymson Wolves were more the type of Monster canines that were near Xanderia." He paused, thinking about it for a moment. "But it doesn’t matter, we can just leave it be."

Alice nodded. "That sounds good to me," she concurred. "If this wolf is trespassing in the territory of other wolves, they’ll take care of it. Let nature deal with nature."

Faizan didn’t disagree either. "I guess that makes sense," he said. So with the group in agreement, they continued back to where Lucas and Nero were waiting.

Their supervisors were waiting under an open tent. They were both in full plate armor, but the Holy Knight had mana crystals adorned on various parts of his armor, unlike the teacher who only had three small mana crystals on his armor that Adrian could see.

"Back so soon?" Nero asked, as the three students approached them. "Where’s the rest of your group?"

"We decided to split up. Divvy up the work so we can get done faster," Adrian explained. "Onia and Ilyse wanted to deal with the Kobolds, so we’re doing the rest of the work."

Lucas grunted in response. "So you’ve collected Pixie Buds, I see."

"Yes," Alice said, showing the ingredients in her basket. "And we also found some Sun Spores, Vetus Grass, and—"

The teacher waved a hand and cut her off. "That’s good enough for me," he said. "Have you chosen your research subject yet?"

"N-no," Faizan answered truthfully, and glanced at his two companions. "But I was thinking— if my group doesn’t mind— I wanted to inspect the Elysian Trees. Defenor Forest is the only place outside of Ghab-Ha where they’re fully preserved, and I’m… interested in them."

"I’m fine with it," Adrian said nonchalantly.

Alice nodded in agreement. "If that’s what you want, we’ll do it."

"There you go," Lucas said, shooing them away. "Just make sure you make actual observations about them— like the special properties of their wood or how their leaves seem to produce mana into the air. Don’t just write about what you’re interested in, and cover as much as you can in your paper."

"Yes, Mr Lucas," the three students chorused.

They left their baskets with the teacher, before heading off. They were graded by the ingredients they brought back, and Adrian was certain they gathered enough to get the highest grade— a Distinction. Once the field trip was over, all the ingredients would be equally divided amongst all students for their Alchemy class next week.

"So," Adrian said, breaking the silence, "where are these Elysian Trees at?"

"You mean you don’t know what they look like?" Alice turned to Adrian in surprise. "Have you never seen one, ever?"

"Uh, nope." Adrian scratched the back of his head. "Is that something I should know?"

Alice just stared at him for a moment, then she blinked as a moment of realization sunk in. "I forget you’re from Vitae sometimes," she said, resting her palm on her forehead. "Elysian Trees don’t exist on that side of the world, right?"

"No." Adrian first heard about them when Walden mentioned them in one of his lessons back in Villamcreek. However, he knew nothing about them beyond bare bits of information— they would only come up in a third year elective, so he had no reason to study them. "What’s so special about these trees?" Adrian asked.

"Well, first things first is that Elysian Trees produce mana," Alice said, wagging a finger. "Sure, it’s minuscule in amount, but we have evidence that they do create mana.

"Furthermore, they are considered sacred by the Elves. The Great Hero Xander planted the first seed of the Elysian Tree after the Demon Lord was defeated. He said it was bestowed upon him by the Goddess as a gift for his second wife, the Elf Princess Qabul, when she announced that she was pregnant with his child.

"Each tree takes around two decades to fully mature, and they don’t produce many seeds, making them incredibly rare. And since they aren’t officially recognized as something ‘holy’ by the Church, many rich nobles cut them down to use their incredibly strong bark as a building or crafting material."

"It’s terrible," Faizan finally spoke out, picking up where Alice left off. "The only reason why all the trees haven’t been chopped down yet is because we— I mean, the Elves— are preserving and growing them." He paused, eyeing something in the distance, then added, "Plus, they’re massive." The Half Elf boy pointed up, towards the sky.

Adrian turned his gaze heavenward, and he felt his breath caught in his throat. "That’s an Elysian Tree?!" he exclaimed.

The boy was staring up above the canopy of trees, at a protrusion that jutted out of the treetop like a hill in the distance. Except, it was not a hill— it was a gigantic tree.

The Elysian Tree rose up, far above the rest of the Defenor Forest, reaching out for the clouds up above. There were a few dozen of them, and each had to be at least 500 feet tall. Their trunks were 50 feet in diameter at their thickest; it was not the widest tree proportional to their size, but Adrian could not help uttering an oath, "Sacred piss, you weren’t kidding. Those are massive."

"They are," Faizan said, a hint of pride showing on his face. "And Ghab-Ha has hundreds of them."

"What’s so special about their wood?" Adrian asked. "Why would anyone want to cut them down?" The boy was pretty sure felling a single one of those trees was a hazard to whoever was given that job.

"It’s because of their wood," Alice piped up. "It’s called wisened wood because of what happens to them once the tree dies. It becomes harder than what it already is, and you don’t even have to dry the wood— they simply don’t decompose. Or if they do, we haven’t seen it happen yet."

"They’re also fireproof," Faizan added. "Which makes disposing of fallen Elysian Trees incredibly difficult. And that’s not including all the work required cleaning the other trees crushed by the fall."

Adrian was still staring at the enormous trees in the distance. He could not see them as clearly above the treetops now that they were closer, but the image of the Elysian Trees was burned into his mind. Then a thought crossed his mind.

"If we know all that, what are we even doing observing it?"

"Well, there’s a difference between what we read in books and actually seeing it for ourselves. We want to compare the information in our notes with the preconception we have, as well as observe how the Elysian Trees interact with the wildlife in the area," Alice explained, her blue eyes sparkling with even more life than usual.

"You really like researching these types of things, huh?" Adrian remarked, and the girl blushed. "You seem even more excited for this than Faizan."

"Hehe…"

Faizan glanced between the two of them. "H-hey," he started, "are you two—" He never got to finish.

A rustling of the bushes interrupted the Half Elf boy. The three students tensed.

"Monster—"

And a figure burst out from behind the leaves. Ilyse ran out at them, visibly exhausted, heaving with labored breath. She was injured, but no terribly so, however that was enough to instill panic into the three children.

"Lady Ilyse, what happened?" Alice rushed to the girl, and practically caught her from falling over. "Where’s Lady Onia?!"

"You— where were you?" she snapped. "You weren’t where we left you! This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t leave!"

"Calm down, Ilyse," Adrian said, his words not matching his panicked voice. "What happened? Explain."

"Lady Onia— she’s in trouble. We need to get Mr Lucas! Get Sir Nero to save her!" The noble girl tried to push past the group, but she could barely even stand by herself. She almost collapsed, letting out a whimper. Finally, she gave up, and looked all three of her group mates in the eyes. "A Werewolf attacked us. She bought time to save me. Please, she might still be alive."

Adrian’s eyes widened. A Werewolf? But how—

It was not the time for questions. Adrian had been raised by a man who was experienced with avoiding Monsters when out hunting in the wilderness. The boy learned to react fast when such things happened.

"Faizan," he said, bringing the Half Elf boy out of his stupor. "Go get the adults. Now."

Adrian did not have to say it twice. Faizan immediately took off in a run, not even wasting a single second to ask questions. Adrian then turned to Alice.

"You stay here with Ilyse. She can’t walk. Protect her in case any stray Kobold or wild animal decides to attack her."

"What are you going to do?" the girl asked, staring at him with fear in her eyes.

"I’ll find Onia. Try and buy her some time until the adults arrive," he said, voice final. He faced Ilyse. "You guys wait here for when Faizan returns with Mr Lucas and Sir Nero. Direct them to where Onia is." He hesitated, and looked over to his right. "You said you were attacked back where we were collecting those Pixie Buds, right?"

"Y-yes," Ilyse answered, pointing at the direction he was facing. "But you can’t go, you’ll die—"

Adrian ignored her. He took off, running through the trees, straight for Onia— his bully. A bratty noble girl he hated.

Why was he doing this? Should he not have hoped she somehow died from this? It would be a boon to his time in Xander’s Academy if she were gone for good.

Except, there was a reason why he ran to help Onia. It was a simple reason— which did not require any explanation. It was this: Adrian was not a psychopath.

That was all.

So Adrian ran straight into danger. His mind was racing as his legs carried him as fast as it could through the uneven terrain, and around the obstacles in his path.

The Dyre Wolf, he thought. It’s the Dyre Wolf!

It had never been a Dyre Wolf. It was a Werewolf the entire time. That was what Werewolves did— Adrian read it in a bestiary; Werewolves disguised themselves as a prey to a predator— such as Dyre Wolves to Crymson Wolves— to draw out said predators. Then, they would catch their prey unaware, by transforming into their real forms: a large, seven foot tall wolf-like creature with claws longer than knives and fangs as numerous as a shark’s teeth.

There was no way Onia could slay such a beast. She was going to die, and Adrian could not let that happen. He had failed at saving someone once. From a Chimera. And she had been forced to save him instead.

Adrian knew he could not kill a Werewolf. That was why he had sent Faizan to get Nero or Lucas. They could save Onia. And Faizan, being part Elf, could run the fastest out of all four of the children that were there at the moment. But they could be too late, which was why Adrian was doing this.

He found himself back where he last saw Onia. It looked like there had been a battle here. Broken branches and destroyed bushes and—-

Blood.

Adrian’s heart stopped. But there was no body. Onia could still be alive. He saw the blood leaving what seemed to be a trail, and he quickly followed it.

The boy followed it until he saw a shape in the distance. He heard the clash of claws against steel, and watched as Onia flew backwards into a tree. Her shield was knocked aside from the hit, and her sword was nowhere to be seen. The Werewolf loomed over the noble girl as her face visibly paled, even from a distance. It raised its claw—

And a bolt of energy struck its side.

"Over here, you stupid Monster!"

The Werewolf spun around, assessing the new threat.

Adrian was not holding a stun gun. This was not a duel, his weapon was real and carried with it a force stronger than even a crossbow. Xander’s Academy was a rich institution; Adrian knew this pistol he had was better than his dad’s pistol. Yet, the Werewolf looked even less hurt than the Chimera was from his shots.

Adrian drew his sword, firing more bolts of energy at the Monster. The Werewolf struck its hand through the air, blocking the attacks with its claws. Adrian tried racing around it— circling it— as he continued shooting as many bullets as he could.

The Werewolf was hit by a few more bullets before it decided Adrian was another easy target. It charged the boy, running on two legs as it swung its arms at him. Adrian just barely ducked under the first swing. He quickly countered with his own stab at the Monster’s legs, but he barely cut through its flesh. He practically only gave the beast a haircut!

Adrian had to bring his sword up to block the second attack. The force of the blow sent Adrian stumbling backwards. It followed up with another strike, and Adrian parried again. This time, the boy went flying and crashed into some bushes.

He tried to pick himself up. He was bleeding and bruised in a few places. The Werewolf was charging at him, now on all four legs. He fired another shot as it came closer, and rolled out of the way of the frenzied attack.

Adrian steadied himself for just a moment as the Werewolf turned back around. It was too close. He was going to die unless someone came in now to save him. Or unless he felled the beast by himself.

But he could not do that. He could not even hurt the Monster—

The boy paused, as he remembered Melas. He remembered an explosion, and blood flying through the air. It was a dangerous tactic, one that nearly got the girl killed. But it worked.

Adrian felt himself touching the mana crystal in his gun. He did not exert any force over the mana just yet, however he was considering it. The Werewolf ran at him again, and he hesitated.

No, I have to do this!

Adrian brough the pistol up. The mana crystal flashing. It glowed, as the boy pushed at the mana with all of his strength.

But nothing happened.

What? Why—

The Werewolf reached the boy. It brought its claws down at him, and he closed his eyes. This was how he died. He wondered what would happen to Alice— he hoped she wouldn’t blame herself for his death. And he never even got to see Melas again.

There was a yelp. Adrian opened his eyes and saw Nero standing in front of him. The Werewolf was backed up, a large gash opened up on its chest.

"Well then, it seems like I came just in time," the Holy Knight said, grinning.

The Werewolf howled, clasping at its chest. It charged the man that just injured it, and he easily sidestepped the attack. Nero swung at its legs, his sword easily cutting through its thick skin.

"Come, now. Is that all you got?" Nero taunted the creature.

It leapt back, now staring warily at the Holy Knight Captain. Adrian stared in awe as the man easily countered another attack. And another. Then, the Werewolf finally had enough. The Monster reverted back to a wolf— a smaller wolf than a Dyre Wolf— and tried to flee. But Nero just laughed.

"You’re not going to escape!"

With that said, the black haired man swung his sword at the escaping Monster from a distance. A red blade of energy flashed through the air, and sliced the Werewolf in half. It fell, dead.

"Amazing," Adrian breathed the word.

The Holy Knight slowly sheathed his blade, and lifted his visor up. He turned to Adrian, then to Onia. Adrian saw as Lucas approached with Faizan, Alice, and Ilyse in the distance. They rushed to the injured girl, and the teacher quickly began applying a healing potion on her wounds.

"You children are more trouble than I thought you for," Nero said, grabbing the boy’s attention. "Trying to face a Werewolf by yourself is a fool’s move already. And yet, you took it a step further and tried to destabilize your weapon’s mana crystal to explode it. You’re fortunate that all of the Academy’s weapons are made with precautions to prevent an accident like that from happening. It’s a dangerously foolish act, one that defeats the purpose of this field trip, enough to give you a failing grade."

Adrian opened his mouth to protest.

"But," Nero cut him off, raising a finger. "You did so to protect your friends. And for that, I’d say it’s worth a Distinction, no?"

The boy paused, staring at the Holy Knight for a moment. Then he spoke out, "Onia’s not my friend."

"But you still tried to save her regardless."

"I—"

"Well, it doesn’t matter what you think. I am simply stating what I see." Nero flashed his charming smile, then walked away from Adrian to the others. The boy frowned, but didn’t say anything.

Later, after Adrian was healed up as well, the group returned back to the main clearing of Defenor Forest. They had to cut the field trip short, out of fear that there were more Werewolves in the area.

Alice was clinging on to Adrian, not letting go of his arm. "You had me worried sick, you know? I thought you were going to get yourself killed!"

"I’m fine now," Adrian said. "So please, let go of me—"

The boy paused, as Onia came up to them. Alice immediately straightened, and turned to the noble girl. "L-lady Onia," she said, not meeting the other girl’s eyes. "Are you alright? We’re so sorry about what happened—"

"Why did you save me?" she asked, ignoring the blonde girl.

Adrian eyed the noble girl. He turned to Alice, standing uncertainly to the side, then back to Onia. He took a deep breath, and spoke, "Don’t ignore Alice."

"What?"

"You heard what I said," Adrian replied, not masking his irritation with her. "You know, Onia, I don’t like you. Despite what Sir Nero said, I don't think you’re my friend. You ask me why I saved you? It’s because I’m not a callous individual like you, who would leave a stranger to die if it did not benefit you in any way. Most regular, decent people would save the life of someone in danger if the situation arises."

Onia froze, slowly processing his words. She looked like she wanted to snap at him, but she bit back her tongue. "I… I’m sorry, Alice," she finally said. "And to you, Adrian, for offending you."

Adrian blinked, surprised at her level response. "Oh, uh, as long as you understand—"

"However, you are wrong about me," she cut him off. "I am not a callous individual. I am a Duke’s daughter. There is a certain standard I have to uphold, and unfortunately, you comm— two, refuse to let me maintain it."

"What?" Alice asked, aghast. "I have been nothing but courteous to you, Lady Onia."

"Yet you hang around this insolent fool who insists on addressing me so casually, ignoring all status between us. I gave you a chance to rectify that error, but you valued your acquaintance with him more than mine." Onia shook her head. "Don’t mistake my gratitude for something else, Adrian. At the end of the day, you are still a commoner, and I will become a Duchess once my father passes his title to me. I know you are from the Rem Republic where the aristocracy is weak and holds less than a third of the power of government, but we’re not in the Rem Republic. This is the Holy Xan Empire, and if you want to survive here, you need to play by our rules, and not make up your own."

Adrian wanted to snap back. He wanted to argue. But he realized she was telling the truth. From her perspective, Adrian had been nothing but rude from the first day, refusing to use titles for any of the nobles in Xander’s Academy. The boy thought he would give respect to those who deserved it, but that was not enough. Not when he was casually disrespecting them from the very first day. He took a deep breath, and thinking of Alice, he spoke out.

"Onia— no, Lady Onia. If I were to use your preferred title from now on, you’ll have to stop treating Alice and I as outsiders," Adrian said, gesturing at the blonde girl next to him. "Perhaps you may think I did not earn my place in the Academy because Saint Theron pulled some strings to get me in, but Alice certainly has. And have I not proven from my time here that I am very much qualified to be a student here? Or are you disputing the veracity of my grades?"

"I am doing no such thing, and I would rather you not make presumptions on my behalf in the future," the noble girl sighed, but pressed that issue no longer. Instead, she brought out a hand. "I have considered your offer, and I accept your terms. I sincerely doubt you would be willing to bow your head to me despite your reluctant use of my title, so we shall shake on it, only to simplify this issue." She waited, her hand opened for him to take.

Adrian hesitated, eyeing the outstretched palm for a moment. "What about Faizan? Are you going to stop calling him a half breed and acknowledge him? He is a Baron’s son, after all."

"I…" Onia trailed off as Adrian raised an eyebrow. Then, after some internal conflict where her good sense won, she responded, "Very well. But only because he helped in saving me by calling Sir Nero."

The boy nodded, deciding that was the best he could get out of this. "So I guess we have a deal then?"

"Indeed."

Adrian and Onia shook hands as Alice watched, mouth agape. With that, the pink haired girl turned around and took her leave.

"Adrian!" Alice said excitedly. "You just made us friends with Lady Onia! Do you understand what that means?"

Adrian frowned. "I don’t really think we’re friends, and I don’t know— what does it mean?"

"It means you have access to one of the highest social circles in all of the Holy Xan Empire! These types of relationships go a long way, Adrian!" the girl chattered, waving her arms about. "Networking, getting to know the upper nobles. These are all things I thought would take me years to do once I got accepted to Xander’s Academy— in fact, I thought I’d spend the first three years talking only to the lesser nobles. But now that Lady Onia is properly acknowledging us, that’s not going to be necessary anymore!"

The boy looked at the girl skeptically. "I really don’t think it’s as big of a deal as you’re making it, Alice."

She sighed. "I’ll have to teach you a lot more things about how the nobility and the Holy Xan Empire works, don’t I? You’re still oblivious to so many things even after being here for half a year!" Then she laughed, smiling brightly at Adrian. "But don’t worry, once I’m done with you, I’ll make sure Xanderia feels like a second home!"

Adrian paused, catching a glimpse of Nero in the background. He saw the man’s sable black hair hanging freely without a helmet in place, and thought of someone else.

Sorry Alice, he thought to himself. But that’s never going to happen.

Because even if Onia was actually a good person, even if Faizan was an interesting new friend, and even if Adrian liked Alice’s company, it still did not change the fact that he believed the Holy Xan Empire was evil.

Chapter 21: Scenic View

For the next few days of travel, I spent every waking moment while not on the road practicing my drawing skills. I tried jumping straight to carving the runes on mana crystals, but that ended up being a waste of resources because of how imprecise I was at it; I went through three Lesser mana crystals— despite filing away the surface when I made a mistake— before learning my lesson and transitioning to paper.

Now, I worked with a pen, gripping it in the same way I would a carving needle; it was not an exact simulation of working with mana crystals, but it was as close as I could get to it. I continued drawing the four basic symbols of fire, water, earth, and air in repetition, focusing solely on learning the fundamentals of tinkering before I actually started work on creating proper mana tools.

I stayed up sleepless nights working on this, and spent the hours Gennady and I were on the road on the back of his mana powered bike, resting my head against his massive backpack and sleeping. It was not the most comfortable way to take a nap, however it certainly was not as bad as sleeping in a cage at the back of a caravan with my arms and legs bound and shackled. So it sufficed most of the time.

This, however, was one of the times I was unable to sleep while Gennady was driving. I could not toss and turn since there was not enough space for that, but I did fidget uncomfortably where I lay: I was thinking. Thoughts filled my mind in an endless stream of consciousness, keeping me awake despite what my closed eyes might seem to indicate.

I could not stop thinking about all the different tools I would be able to craft once I had fully mastered how to tinker; the nebulous idea of the various machines and weapons I could create to both protect myself and make my life a lot easier was an entrancing thing to imagine. I felt my lips curl up to a smile before a voice broke me out from the thoughts in my head.

"Oi lass, wake up," Gennady spoke, his rough voice perking up my ears. "You probably want to see this," he said.

I forced my eyelids open, blinking away my tiredness and sitting up. I rubbed at my eyes for a second as it tried to adjust to having vision after seeing nothing for so long. "What is it?" I asked, yawning.

"Look to your left." The Dwarf did not twist his head to face me. He had his eyes on the road, but he did gesture his head in the direction he wanted me to face.

Slowly, I sat up and turned my neck to the side. My eyes widened and I gasped as I took on the marvelous sight before me: I was faced with a palette of sharp, contrasting colors in the canvas before me.

A beach stretched out for a few hundred feet, turning from a dull gray gravel into a neat brown blanket of sand, wrinkled by the waves rolling in and out of the ocean. The endless deep blue expanse of the sea morphed into the azure blue of the sky, but at the line where the two met, the sun rested there, muddling the pure colors with a bright orange. The water shimmered as the brilliant sunset shone down upon the world, bringing with it the last semblance of light for the day at this moment of twilight.

There was not a cloud in the sky, but it was going to be a dark night; the lunar cycle brought with it the new moon, and travelers would only have their paths illuminated by the specks of light that came in the stars.

"That’s a beautiful sunset," I breathed. I had not seen a sight like this in over a decade: the sparkling sand and the glistening ocean was a spectacular view to behold. The empty serenity of the beach was only accentuated by the setting sun, which gave the dark brown surface an amber tint that was rarely ever seen in the crowded beaches of Earth.

"‘Course," Gennady said, still not facing me. "I knew you’d like it. This is your first time seeing the ocean, eh? Most people never get the chance since not everyone travels to port cities."

"It is." In this world, I added in my head. I took a moment longer to gaze into the nostalgic scene of a beach, then turned back to the Dwarf. "Shouldn’t we be stopping soon? It’s late."

"We’re a tiny bit ahead of schedule. So I think we should keep going for a bit longer."

"Are you sure we should be traveling when it’s dark?" I asked. "I don’t want us to get lost or attacked by bandits."

"Don’t worry, lass," he said reassuringly. "As long as we’re not out there"— he pointed at the ocean— "we ain’t running into any trouble."

"But—"

"And," the Dwarf cut me off. "We won’t be out when it’s night."

I cocked my head, not sure what to make of what he was saying. Then, I saw it.

In the distance, a few miles ahead, a sprawling city came into view. There was a tall wall surrounding the perimeter of the city, which opened up at the side where the harbor was; streetlights and lamps were visible even from where we were, giving the city a sense of life with its light, in sharp contrast to the darkness of the wilderness to my right. I saw a small line of caravans, carriages, and a single car queuing up to enter the city gates as night slowly descended upon us.

"This is… Luke?" I guessed.

That was the Capital city of Laxis, and our final destination in this country; we were not supposed to arrive here until tomorrow, but…

"We’re more than just a bit ahead of schedule, are we?"

"Yes," Gennady chortled, leaning back in his seat slightly. "We’re very ahead of schedule."

We reached the city half an hour later. The sun had just finished setting, but the gates were still open. Apparently the threat of Monster attacks was less of a problem here in the Capital, which made sense, but did not put me at ease; after what happened in Bys, I did not feel safe even behind the walls of a big city— and Luke was not nearly as large as the Free City of Slaves was.

In fact, I was pretty sure this city was not as big as Boleria, and neither was it as big as the Rem Republic’s Capital city of Remheart. I had never been to the latter, but I knew that my home country was one of the richer nations in this world, whereas Laxis was undergoing an economic crisis that was only exacerbated by the influx of refugees from the Free Lands.

We were momentarily stopped at the entrance of the city— the guards wanted to check our bags for any illicit goods. I almost had a heart attack.

"Um, are you sure that’s necessary?" I asked the guard while trying to hint at Gennady that I was indeed carrying ‘illicit goods’.

The guard shrugged. "It’s the law, Miss. I’m just doing my job."

"Of course you are," I said, trying to sound like I understood his situation. "But we paid the fee for entry, didn’t we? And we’re not even traders. This just seems like an unnecessary hassle."

"It would be less of a problem if you didn’t argue, Miss," the guard said, and I knew he was right.

I quickly glanced over at my travel companion with panic in my eyes, and he finally seemed to get my message. He got off his bike, and approached the guard. "Sir," he started, reaching for his pockets. "It’s a troublesome job, ain’t it?"

The guard eyed the Dwarf warily, but didn’t say anything.

Gennady continued. "I wanna help you out, but we also want to be helped out. So how about this?" He pulled out two glistening silver coins from his pocket. "A tip. For your troubles. And for our ‘troubles’."

The guard hesitated, before quickly looking around; when he saw no one was looking, he quickly snatched the coin out of the Dwarf’s hand, and pocketed it. "Go," he said, waving us off. "You’re all clear. I found nothing in your bags."

"Good lad," Gennady said, smacking him in the back, before hopping back on his bike. Then he winked at me. "Problem solved."

I sighed in relief as we finally entered the city, and drove away from the guardpost at the gates; the guard did not look through our belongings, which was a good thing considering I had a dozen books containing heretical contents inside of it. Not all of them were books on spells— that made up slightly less than half of my personal library— but I was pretty sure most of the others were illegal to own as well.

I probably should throw some of them away, since I had finished reading pretty much everything of note in those books. And the fact that a majority of them were hand-me-downs from Victor, my former friend and a rapist, urged me towards that course of action. However, not only have I simply never found the time to do it, a side of me felt like I could potentially find a use for them in the future.

I was not sure how accurate or trustworthy that side of me was, but I listened to it for now. It was risky, however perhaps I could maybe sell these books on the black market if the situation ever arised. Not that I knew how to access the sale of illegal goods: I did not even think of bribing the gate guard to Luke!

"How’d you know he’d accept it?" I asked Gennady as we were driving down the streets of the city, drawing some attention because of how much gas was being puffed out of the Dwarf’s vehicle. "The bribe," I specified.

He raised his shoulders in a shrug. "The country has been in hard times, lassie. Corruption is not uncommon when people just want to earn a living."

"But what if he reported us to a superior?" I asked, frowning. "We’d be in a lot more trouble."

"Then we bribe him instead," Gennady answered simply.

"I… but…" I paused, considering his possible responses to any further questioning I might have. Eventually, I acquiesced on the issue. It worked out without a problem, I told myself. Why are you complaining?

It was a nonsensical part of myself that worried over possible scenarios that never came to fruition; it usually was a longing for what could have been better, but sometimes it was a fear for what could have gone wrong.

Gennady and I continued down the haphazard streets of Luke, before finding ourselves at an inn. It was a more luxurious inn compared to the ones we had been staying in for the past week— all of which were fancy compared to the inns I had been staying in by myself before I started traveling with the Dwarf.

He insisted on finding comfortable lodgings most of the time, even if it were not necessary. I understood the concept of treating oneself once in a while, but it seemed as though he took it a step further and lived life on the edge in exchange for always getting what he wanted. That was why he left the Taw Kingdom in the first place: he was dissatisfied with how things were going with him there and took a leave even if it had no long term benefits.

Plus, Gennady warned me that we were probably going to be staying in Luke for a while; it was difficult to find transportation out of the port city due to all of the hazards with pirates infesting the waters right outside of it. We had to find a ship willing to bring us out of Laxis— possibly all the way to Taw— which required a significant amount of protection in the form of Mercenaries, as well as Hunters if a sea Monster decided to attack the ship.

And while the former was a problem endemic to Laxis for almost a decade, it seemed the latter was simply a seasonal issue. The stormy weather supposedly attracted creatures of the deep to gather closer to coastal settlements, lying in wait to sink unguarded ships and feast on its crew.

It was not the wisest idea to go on a seaway voyage at the current time, and while I was not in a rush to get to Taw, I would prefer to find myself in a physically and financially secure position as soon as possible.

"Remind me again, why can’t we travel to Taw through land?" I asked the Dwarf as we settled into our room.

"It’s not that we can’t travel by land," he said, wagging a finger to point out the nuance in his statement. "Traveling by land means going through lots and lots of rocky, mountainous terrain. My bike is not designed for such travels, and it would probably take us an entire month longer than the two to three months it would already take us to get to Taw by ship."

"But what happens if the ships here refuse to leave the port until after the storm season is over?" I pointed out the flaw in his reasoning. "That would take at least another month for that to happen."

"Well, ya haven’t taken into consideration the other factor which makes traveling by sea far better." The Dwarf shot me a wink, as I stared blankly back at him.

"Out with it already."

"Fine," he said, throwing his hands up in the air. "I thought you Humans liked your dramatic reveals." He shook his head, and pulled out a map from his backpack. "Here."

"What am I supposed to be looking for?" I asked, raising a brow.

"The city of Jahar’taw, Capital of the Taw Kingdom, and where King Adilet resides."

I carefully took the map from Gennady’s hands, and looked over it. "It’s… a coastal settlement," I said after a moment of scrutinizing the map; I finally realized what he was trying to tell me. "We can head straight to the Capital of Taw if we took a boat!"

"Exactly."

I glanced back up at the Dwarf, and saw his eyes sparkling. "Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?" I asked. "This is incredibly efficient."

He snorted. "Hah, ‘course. I’m a Dwarf, after all."

I rolled my eyes, but did not comment on that; I turned back to the map and looked at where we were. Laxis was not the largest country out there, however it was still sizable. It was almost surprising that it was having as many internal problems as it was, despite having very few enemies beyond its borders. I would have thought a country with fewer threats from the outside would be more stable on the inside.

"So," I started, "what about the pirates?"

"What do ya mean?" Gennady asked, leaning back on his chair.

"Who exactly is going to be willing to transport us to Taw, past the pirate infested waters surrounding Laxis?"

"We’ll figure it out later," he said, waving his hand nonchalantly. "But I reckon we’d hafta hire a couple of smugglers and the like to bring us out."

"Smugglers?" I felt my forehead crease into wrinkled lines.

"Yes." The Dwarf began to explain, "You see, most likely regular sailors and merchants would wait out for the storm season to blow over. Neither pirates nor any sane sailor would dare risk their ship out during a bad storm. This just means that on clear days like today, pirates would be a lot more active in patrolling the trade routes, looking to intercept any fool who decides to attempt to cross the sea.

"However, if we hire a band of smugglers to bring us out of Luke, pirates would be less likely to attack us. Most pirates would be affiliated with a smuggling group or two, to bring their illicit goods into the city. If they attack their own smugglers— well, that’s just a bad business move, y’know?"

I nodded, considering this.

"And you think you can find trustworthy smugglers to bring us to Taw for us?"

"Not all the way to Taw," Gennady corrected me. "Just partway through— far enough to get away from the pirates, and board a proper ship to finish the voyage."

"The question still stands," I said.

He stroked his beard in thought. "It’ll take some time, but I’ll be able to do it. I know my way through the underground, and I bet ya I can find someone willing to do this job for us within the week."

"If you say so."

I did not fully trust Gennady for some reason, despite knowing him for a week. Or perhaps I should rephrase: I had only known him for a week, which was why I did not fully trust him just yet. Whichever the case was, I felt like I should still be somewhat leery of the man.

I had paid him almost a hundred gold coins to escort me to the Taw Kingdom, and while that certainly helped to abate some of my uncertainty regarding the situation, I still did not feel fully at ease about the things he did when I was not around. After what happened in the Free Lands with Victor as well as what happened with the slaves, I tried to keep my eyes on Gennady at all times, even if that was not physically possible.

The Dwarf eventually retired to bed once our discussion was over, while I stayed up to practice my drawing skills. I drew the four same symbols over and over again, until my hands and fingers ached all over, but I still continued.

When I first started doing this, I had only drawn the runes of the same symbols in succession: fire, fire, fire; water, water, water; earth, earth, earth; or air, air, air. Now, however, I was drawing the different symbols in tandem with one another, mixing up the combinations to varying degrees.

Fire, fire, water, air.

Water, earth, fire, air.

Earth, earth, air, earth.

Earth, air, air, fire.

From what I had studied in the books Gennady lent me and from what he told me himself, all four symbols could theoretically be put together in a rune and create something. However, there were certain pairs that almost always went together more often than with others. These pairs were:

Water and earth. Earth and air. Fire and air. Fire and fire.

The last pair was an oddity in that they were both the same symbols. Gennady seemed to postulate that this was due to how the fire symbol seemed to generate the most amount of energy by itself. I thought differently: to me, it probably was the prevalence of weaponry in the daily lives of the people in this world, which made the fire symbol more needed than the others.

In a similar vein, the reason why the earth symbol seemed to pair with the others fairly liberally was probably due to its importance when it came to tinkering with a mana crystal to affect objects around it. It was not due to the effectiveness of the symbols itself, rather it came from the necessity of it all.

I went through pieces of paper incredibly quickly; it was not the most expensive material in the world, but it still cost quite a significant amount to buy as much paper as I had been using (I used both sides of the paper and tried not to waste space). I finally found myself at the end of my current stack and was forced to stop for the night.

I slowly slumped over the desk, exhausted from working for so long into the night. I rested my head on my arms atop the table, facing to the side and out of the window.

It was dark.

The moonless night shed no light down from the heavens, as dark clouds gradually formed overhead, covering the celestial bodies from illuminating their shine upon this earth. Yet, I saw not the darkness of the void ahead of me, but instead a picturesque scene layered over the window frame like some sort of portrait.

I remembered the sunset from earlier today. The tranquil view of the beach, the sounds of the waves crashing into the sand, and the rays of the sun beaming down at my face.

It was almost relaxing.

I glanced over at the clock to the side, and checked the time. It was late at night— past midnight— but it was hardly the usual time I went to bed. I felt almost as if I had become a workaholic with all the things I had been doing since I was freed from slavery; every single one of my days had been filled with traveling, studying, or fighting without any moment of reprieve in between them.

The last time I got the chance to simply enjoy myself was the time I went shopping for a new set of clothes since my Goblin outfit was getting used and worn.... and my wallet felt very bad about itself the day after!

I sighed wistfully as I remembered my previous life and all the fun times I managed to spend with my friends doing various different activities in between our studying, volunteering, and school.

"I want to go to the beach," I muttered under my breath.

It was most definitely not the best time to go outside; being a kid and wandering the streets alone at night was a recipe for trouble. I did not want to be forced to expose myself if push came to shove and I had to cast magic to protect myself again.

And yet, once night ended and morning came to replace it, I would lose the opportunity to go to the beach without wasting any of my time. Time was precious, and its wastage on something as unnecessary as enjoying myself would guilt-trip me to no end.

I looked over my shoulder, at the sleeping, rotund figure of the Dwarf laying in his bed. He was going to go to the market tomorrow in search for any Superior mana crystals, bringing me with him to teach me things I needed to learn about them. After that was finished, we would head down to the docks to find any ships that were willing to take us to Taw.

I had no window to act, and the stormy weather would probably bring the tides dangerously close to shore once I finally found the chance to visit the beach. It was with taking all this into consideration, I made my decision.

"I’m going to the beach," I said, standing up and grabbing my dagger and other protective gears.

After all, there was no time like the present, and this wasted no time since I probably wouldn’t have been able to fall asleep anyway.

Chapter 22: Beach Episode

I sat alone in the darkness of the night. The sound of the violent waves echoed in my eardrums as I looked upon the sea before me.

The dim moon and star light was shadowed by the thick layer of clouds gathering toward the heavens; a strong breeze threatened to throw my hood back, but it barely stayed on as the cloth stuck to the mask on my face.

I wore my Hunter’s outfit. There was something dissuading about prancing around the empty city streets past midnight while dressed in colorful, semi-rich clothing. Generally speaking, going out in the middle of the night was never a good idea unless it was necessary, but I needed this moment. There was something relaxing about this, despite the thundering waves and the roaring wind filling in the background noise.

I did not move. My eyes did not wander off this portrait, but stayed glued onto it. I was almost fixated to this sight.

"This is nice," I sighed wistfully to myself.

"It really is, isn’t it?"

I jumped at the unexpected response; I whirled around, reaching down for my dagger and gripped the hilt of the blade, but did not pull it out just yet.

I saw a figure standing behind me. He was a man with pale blue skin that was lighter than the sky at day, with long ears poking out of the side of his head. My eyes widened at his onyx black hair that almost seemed to become one with the shadows of the night, but his deep green eyes were focused straight at the ocean ahead. An Elf? I thought, surprised at seeing one for the first time.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" I asked, not masking the wariness in my voice.

The man did not answer my question immediately. Instead, he leisurely lowered himself down, and sat on the natural gravel floor of the beach before replying.

"That’s an odd question to ask someone, isn’t it?"

"It is," I said, feeling slightly embarrassed by how jumpy I might have come across. Still, I doubled down. "But it’s an appropriate one for a stranger sneaking up on me by the sea in the middle of the night."

He finally turned to face me, and he gave me an almost dismissive look. "If I wanted to harm you, I would have done so without alerting you of my presence."

True, but that did not mean I shouldn’t be cautious of you. I did not relax as the man continued.

"However, since you’re curious, I am a Half Elf from Ghab-Ha, the last remaining Elven country, and the only other nation in Soli than the Holy Xan Empire. Well, that’s true in theory, but the reality of the situation is that our country lacks sovereignty in various different ways. I came to this continent decades ago to find help—"

I didn’t ask for your full backstory! I tuned the strange man out as he began to tell me all about himself; he was talking about his seaborne voyage past Drake Island and how dangerous the waters got there. I didn't even know why he was telling me this.

I simply rested my chin on the palm of my hand and stared at the waves crashing into the beach. I stayed there for a minute, and some time during that minute, the man stopped talking and I didn’t notice.

"A lovely sight," he finally said, breaking the silence.

"Mhm."

"Tell me, why exactly are you here, young Miss?" he asked, ignoring my detached demeanor towards him. "I don’t believe a child such as you should be out in the middle of the night, let alone where a large wave could sweep you into the sea where you’d be lost forever."

"I just like beaches, that’s all," I gave him a straightforward answer.

"And you couldn’t go in the day?"

"Was busy," I said curtly.

"You’re a peculiar girl," he remarked, standing up.

And I think you’re a weirdo, but you don’t hear me saying it, I quipped mentally; I was not going to say it out loud, but I was getting rather annoyed that my relaxation period was being ruined by some stranger.

"Personally," he started, "I find the ocean fascinating because of how vast it is. I know that somewhere, out there, is where my homeland lies. I will return to it, and they will hail me as a hero."

With that said, the man took a step back, and left me alone on the beach. I turned around to watch him go— making sure he truly left and wasn’t about to grab me from behind to kidnap me and sell me into slavery, before settling back down.

What a weird man, I thought for one last time.

I continued to stare into the undulating blue lines ahead as it shifted up and down accompanied by the howling wind, before something caught my eye. The Half Elf (or Elf?) was gone, yet I could have sworn I saw a figure hiding in the alleyways, watching me.

I eyed the small alcoves and side streets surrounding the beachfront, but there was no one there. I carefully made my way further into the city, casting my gaze toward every possible hiding spot, but saw nothing. And yet, I still felt like someone was watching me.

I started for the inn, but felt my pace getting faster and faster as the feeling never went away. My brisk walk turned into a jog, and my jog into a mad dash. I ran through the empty streets of Luke, trying to flee from this invisible stalker.

My footsteps attracted the attention of gang members, thugs, and other criminals coming to poke their heads out of their alleys to see what was going on; many of them just gave me a weird look, yet that only exacerbated my unease and I felt my heart pounding faster and faster in my chest

I needed to get inside. I wanted to get indoors. The calm serenity of watching the sea vanished as I screamed internally to flee. Where were the guards? Why were the streets so empty of life?

I saw a dim light illuminating a building in the distance and decided to make a break for it. I almost felt like I was back in Bys, running for my life from the Abominations that were chasing me. My life was not in danger— it could not have been in danger— but a panic came over me like I had rarely ever felt before.

Someone was following me. I knew they were.

I threw the doors of the building open, and slammed it shut behind me. I waited with bated breath for a moment, taking a step back away from the entryway to the room, but nothing came after me. The overwhelming feeling of fear subsided, and I slumped to the floor, panting.

I lay there for just a moment, not even taking in my surroundings, before I noticed the people staring at me. There were not a lot of people there, but those that were were seated on tables and others waiting behind a… desk?

A… receptionist cocked her head at me.

Blinking, I realized where I had escaped to: it was the Hunter’s Guild of Luke.

"Um, hi?" the receptionist said. "Was there something you needed, little Miss?"

I tried to ignore the other Hunters in the guild lobby staring at me, and quickly got myself up and dusted myself off.

"Yes," I said, walking up to the receptionist and pulling out my ID card. "I’m a Hunter, and I was hoping to take a look at the jobs around, and maybe collect any additional rewards for a previous job I completed."

May as well cross out a few items in my to-do list while I’m here.

The Hunter’s Guild offered little jobs in the city of Luke. I would have expected there to be plenty of escort jobs available for the taking, but it seemed that most ships found it more efficient and cost-effective to simply hire Mercenaries to protect them from both sea Monsters and pirates.

After taking a look at the also bare amount of bounties in place, I returned to the receptionist to inquire on my previous job with the Abominations; Gennady had told me the truth when he said I would receive extra payment once the Hunter’s Guild confirmed that we were not lying about the number of Abominations there were.

Unfortunately, the Hunter’s Guild must not have done a thorough job of excavating the cave of bodies, since I was only given an extra hundred gold coins. It was a lot of gold— despite having seen a similar amount of money just the other day, I still found myself gawking when the receptionist handed over the small bag of coins to me.

And yet, it was hardly the amount which I had expected to receive: the original job description suspected there to have been a few hundred Abominations at most. I ended up killing thousands of them, including an Atrocity, and yet my payment was merely doubled. It was not a fair compensation, but when I tried pressing the issue, I realized it would not have gone anywhere and gave up.

I was certain this underpayment was a result of both neglect by the scouts the Hunter’s Guild sent, as well as the fact that they were probably going to revise the reward for exterminating Abominations if they really were more commonplace than was thought.

Regardless, I stayed in the Hunter’s Guild until just before sunrise, when the streets of the city began to fill up with regular people going about their days, before daring to go out and return to my inn. The sense of unease was gone, and I found myself questioning whether I had suffered from a momentary panic attack due to whatever reason.

I was back at the inn before I knew it and changed back to my other clothes; Gennady was still asleep, snoring loudly in his bed. I took a peek at the clock, and deciding that it would not have been an issue if I took a quick wink, I went to bed.

The Dwarf woke me up just after noon, having come back from shopping for mana crystals and other tools he needed. He did not find what he wanted, but he managed to get away with two ‘high quality’ Superior mana crystals for a good price— that meant it had a good cut for its size, which made it far easier to inscribe on when tinkering with it.

"Slept late last night, huh?" he asked, as he handed me a small bag of food; it had grilled fish skewered on thin wooden sticks. "You hungry?"

My stomach growled in response, and he chuckled.

"Hah, I knew it." He winked at me as my face grew red.

"I had a long night, ok?" I meekly defended myself. That was technically true, but I knew for a fact that my stomach would have reacted the same way even if I had gone to bed early last night. The scent of good food was enough to make me hungry most of the time.

"I saw," he said, glancing at the desk in the corner of the room. "You used up all your paper, huh?"

"Mhm," I made a noise in reply, as I chewed on my food.

"We’ll get you some more later. First, we’ll be heading to the harbor— speak to the sailors and find if any are willing to bring us to Taw."

I nodded my head and finished up the short meal before I spoke; "Well then, let’s not waste any time." I hopped out of bed and grabbed my staff while donning my pointed hat. "Let’s go, shall we?"

The Dwarf snorted. "Don’t act like ye were tha one waiting for me, lass. I was the one waiting for ya!"

I grinned, then we were off. We exited the inn and started for the harbor; it was in a different direction to the beach I had my weird surge of paranoia, or… ‘episode’... last night. That beach episode did not go the way I expected to, and I was glad that I was completely normal now.

Could that Half Elf have done something to me? I thought, wondering if that was the result of some gaseous alchemical concoction. But that would not have made sense; if he was trying to attack me, why did he just up and leave? Plus, it only happened once he had been gone for a few minutes.

I shook my head and shook away those thoughts for now. I focused on the task at hand: finding a ship.

I strutted behind Gennady alongside the wooden pier of Luke’s harbor. He was stroking his bushy beard while carefully inspecting each boat we passed.

"What kind of ship are you looking for?" I asked. He was probably finding one that looked sturdy enough to be able to last the voyage all the way up to Taw rather than any old dinghy, but I did not know what were the specifics he had in mind.

"Well, I’d prefer a mana powered boat to bring us there since those are far better suited for the rough oceans, but I’m willing to settle for just a fully rigged ship with three or four masts."

I drew my lips to a thin line. "I have no idea what any of that means."

The Dwarf sighed. "It means I want a big boat," He paused, glancing around, before pointing at something in the distance. "Like that."

I looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a large, thin ship with a single mast; I had expected it to be made of metal, but it was designed with wood just like any other boat with its name ‘The Lightbringer’s Vessel’ inscribed on its side. Its one distinguishing feature was the extra section protruding out of its quarterdeck and attached to a paddlewheel.

"Whew," I whistled. "That’s a nice boat. Probably expensive to ride on, huh?"

"It would be, but we could get on it for free."

I paused, taking a moment to figure out what he meant. "You want us to offer them our services as Hunters?" I asked, snapping my fingers.

"‘Course," he said, grinning. "Why shouldn’t we? We’re Hunters. We’d probably have to fight any sea Monsters anyway even if we pay to ride on a boat. Might as well take advantage of our roles and hitch a free ride— or, well, voyage."

"But I’m not wearing my mask," I pointed out, and instinctively pulled my shoulders and arms in as if protecting myself.

Gennady shrugged. "You can just sit back for a bit. I’ll say me and a companion would like to offer our services to them. I’ll ‘introduce ‘Aria’ to them on another day if they say yes."

I slowly relaxed, and agreed to his terms, "Alright, that makes sense I guess."

We reached the ship he had pointed out, and found a group of sailors milling around on its deck. I stayed back, as he approached them.

"Hoy there!" the Dwarf called out, raising a hand. "Is your Captain around?"

The sailors gave him an odd look, and after a moment, one of them shouted back, "Go away, little man. We don’t like your kind here!"

I frowned, hearing the insult; Gennady however, seemed unaffected by it.

"Come now, lads. I’d just like to offer my services to your crew," he said casually.

"Hah," one of the sailors laughed. "As if we’d let a Dwarf tinker with our ship. You wouldn’t even be able to work with its mana crystal! We don’t carve on the crystals unlike you fools!"

"I meant it as a Hunter," Gennady said, his brows suddenly arching darkly over his eyes. I narrowed my eyes at the sudden change in his demeanour, but he was not finished. "But since ye lads dinna wan it, how ‘bout I teach ya a lesson instead?!"

I blinked. The sailors blinked. We did not understand a single word he had just said.

Despite that, one of the sailors still decided to taunt him. "Speak up, little man, we can’t hear you from down there—"

The man was cut off when a hammer came flying through the air and smashed him in the face. Gennady lowered his hand, reaching into his backpack for something else. "Wanna go ya lassies?"

"Hey, Gennady, I think we shouldn’t—" I started, but was immediately cut off.

"He just hurt John!"

"No one hurts John and gets away with it!"

"Get him, boys!"

I cursed as more than half a dozen sailors ran down the gangway and onto the pier, charging at my companion; the Dwarf just smirked, and continued throwing objects at them.

Two sailors fell off the wooden plank and into the sea before the rest reached him. They swarmed him one by one, punching and kicking at him.

Gennady was not an agile individual, and he simply took their hits, instead focusing on taking them out one by one. They struck him on the side, back, front—

But he was not affected by any of it. He shoved a man, and he was thrown back nearly ten feet off the pier, joining his two buddies in the water.

Another man charged, but the Dwarf whirled around and elbowed him in the gut. He collapsed, and puked in an instant.

"That all ya got?" Gennady raised his arms to his sides, seemingly unimpeded in combat by the heavy bag on his back. "Ya fight like a bunch of kids!"

The last two men shouted an insult back, and one of them pulled out a knife. "Die in Hell!" he yelled.

The weaponless man dashed forward at Gennady, going to grapple him and hold him in place. He held on for just a moment, before the Dwarf pried him off and threw him off the pier as well. Gennady turned back just in time to see the other man swing his knife at him—

And I swung my staff at the back of his head, knocking him out.

I stared at the Dwarf, as he looked down at the unconscious man.

"I had that just fine," he said.

"I don’t care," I retorted, and pointed past him. "I care about that."

A bunch of angry sailors from other ships were staring at us with fury in their eyes; I could practically feel their hate burning from all the way where I stood. They were amassing into one big group of 20, and they were still growing.

"Uh oh."

I looked blankly at Gennady as he turned back to me.

"That’s a bit of a problem," he said.

"You think?"

"We should run."

I rolled my eyes, then ran.

I heard shouts and screams coming from the sailors charging after us; they were not happy about how we— two random individuals coming to this harbor for the first time— seemingly picked a fight with a prominent crew.

"Wait…for...me!" Gennady called out from behind me, each of his thudding footsteps creaking the wooden floor below.

I slowed a little, craning my neck slightly to check the distance between us and the angry sailors. They were getting closer!

"Does this usually happen with you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm despite the rush of the moment.

"No—" he panted, catching up to me slightly. "Never!"

I narrowed my eyes but did not question him further since we were still running. We finally reached the start of the pier, back to the city area, with my feet finding itself on solid ground. I glanced around at the hundreds of people going about their business at this busy time of day.

"We’ve got to escape into a crowd," Gennady said, about to dash into a group of passersby.

I grabbed his hand, and yanked him back; I shook my head.

"No."

"What? But—"

I cut him off by shouting at the top of my lungs.

"Help, guards! Help!"

"What are you doing?" The Dwarf cocked a brow, but I ignored him.

Immediately, at my screaming, a handful of individuals stopped what they were doing and started for me.

"What’s going on?" a man asked.

"Get the guards! Please."

A susurration ran through the crowd and the message quickly found its way to a small patrol of guards. They pushed their way through gathering bystanders as I quickly ran up to them.

"You have to help me," I begged in a pleading voice. I looked up at them with my eyes, and gave them my best puppy-dog eyes. "That group of men— they attacked my dad! And they’re trying to attack me now!" I spoke hurriedly.

"Calm down, little Miss. What’s going on?" the patrol leader asked. "Explain slowly."

I took a deep breath, and sniffed. "My dad brought me to his ship, The Lightbringer’s Vessel, like he usually does once a week. But then that group of bad men came and got mad at us. They attacked dad’s friends, and threw him off the ship. Now they’re chasing after me. Please, you’ve got to stop them and help my dad!"

I buried my head in my hands, pretending to sob as I did; the guards exchanged a look, and the patrol leader spoke reassuringly.

"We’ll speak to them and try to resolve this, ok?" he said. "Just wait right here."

"Ok," I said softly.

Then the group of guards walked past me, and intercepted the angry sailors right as they reached the end of the wooden wharf. I immediately shot a look to Gennady, and he nodded.

We ran.

We made a dash out of the dockside area of the city as the guards distracted the angry sailors; we did not duck into any side streets, choosing to stay in the main roads despite the fact that we could get caught. I doubted it would happen, plus I did not want to get into any more trouble in some dark alleyway.

The Dwarf and I finally reached our inn, and it was only in our room did we breathe a sigh of relief.

"That couldn’t have gone any worse," I commented.

"Yep."

"I mean, that was the first crew we talked to. And now we’re probably blacklisted by every ship on the harbor."

"We definitely are."

I glanced down at my companion who was still trying to catch his breath; he did not have the best stamina, probably due to his bodyweight and his age. He was in his 60’s, which was considered middle aged for a Dwarf.

"What happened there?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "You were so calm one second, and the next…"

Gennady shook his head. "Nobody insults a Dwarf’s craft," he said, straightening. "You may think us to be short, ugly, and maybe even too hairy— that makes no sense to me, but apparently Elves hate facial hair.

"However, you never denigrate their tinkering abilities. Especially not mine. I was one of the best, if not the best, in all of Taw. I would never take such offense lightly. Sorry, lass, I know it made things much more complicated, but I had to defend my honor."

I eyed the Dwarf for a moment, realizing that the sailors genuinely hurt the man with their comments. I rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Ignore them," I said. "They’re just idiots."

"I know," he snorted, and I smiled.

I added, "Plus, you may be short and excessively hairy, but I don’t think you’re ugly."

"Now you’re just patronizing me."

"‘Course," I imitated him and grinned.

Gennady laughed and slapped me across the back. "Lass, you really are a fun one." He paused, before quickly continuing. "And an interesting one too! I can’t believe you fake cried to get some guards and bystanders to help us! I’m glad I decided to stick with ya."

I shrugged. "You’d be surprised how often children lie to get what they want." Even though I’m not a kid, I thought.

"Well, good thinking anyways," he said, laughing again.

"So," I started, finally deciding to discuss the elephant in the room, "what happens now?"

Gennady grabbed a chair and slumped over onto it, wiping sweat off his forehead. "What do you mean?" he asked. "And before you respond, it’s a rhetorical question."

"Right." I clamped my mouth shut.

He continued, "We already had a plan if going to the harbor failed, didn’t we? Plan B if no ship was willing to take us."

"Ah," I said, not surprised, but let down that he did not have some sort of super secret plan he didn’t tell me; instead, it was just the backup illegal plan we had in mind. "Hire some smugglers."

Chapter 23: Saved and Spent

Water, earth, fire, fire, air, earth, fire, air.

Earth, air, fire, air, fire, water, earth.

Water, fire, air, water.

I glanced down at the final combination of symbols; it was not a common sight to see water paired with fire, since the two were supposed to be diametrically opposed in their real elemental forms. But this was simply a representation— the symbols were named as such because they roughly resembled the elements, however they were not the direct equivalence of said elements.

The theory behind these symbols was a result of complex observations, with its origins stemming from the Great Hero Xander himself. There were basic fundamental rules to creating working runes to draw the power out of a mana crystal— such as how increasingly complex polygons made out of the fire symbol would generally increase the energy drawn from the mana crystal— yet it was entirely possible to create a brand new, working rune out of a random shape with an arbitrary arrangement of the symbols.

So far, I had been making simple shapes: ones that had been studied thoroughly and was good for training, but had little practical use for real mana tools. It was like learning calculus as a mathematics major hoping to pursue a Doctorate in Mathematics in the future— I had a long way to go before I could create the kinds of tools my Dwarven companion did.

I was diligent, but I was not a genius.

I picked the piece of paper up, and inspected it carefully; there were no mistakes that I could see, which instilled in me a sense of accomplishment. I proudly laid the sheet back down onto the table, admiring my work for just a moment longer.

Then the door to the room swung open, and I craned my neck away from the paper lain on the desk to see Gennady enter the room. The rotund man strutted in, his heavy footfalls thumping on the hard wooden floor as he lifted his hood.

"Welcome back," I greeted him, standing up and stretching my back after being seated for over an hour.

"Ya are one studious kid, you know that right?" he commented as he peered over my shoulder. "Good job. You got everything right this time."

I was just about to grin in response when the Dwarf smacked me across the back. Ouch, still not used to that. I rubbed the spot and the light sting quickly went away. Then I finally asked the question that had been in my mind.

"So," I started, "how did it go?"

"Other than the fact that I had to keep even lower than I usually am? Pretty damned good if I had to say so myself."

He placed both hands on his bed, and hefted himself up onto it; he pulled out a small metallic flask and drank from it.

"I managed to speak to a few guys, and they said they could arrange a meeting between us and these two smugglers. They’re one of the best in the city."

I lifted an eyebrow, and tilted my head to the side. "Are they trustworthy though?" I asked. "That’s more important than how good they are at their job. They could be amazing, but if they betray us, it doesn’t matter."

The Dwarf furrowed his brows, and sighed. "Lass, has anyone ever told you that you are sometimes very paranoid?"

"What’s wrong with erring on the side of caution?"

"Nothing." He shook his head and stood up. "I hear that they’ve never failed a job. But the thing is, they’re used to smuggling goods out and into the city, not people. There isn’t much illegal slave trafficking coming out of Luke by sea, and people who try to flee the country generally do so through land by the southern border." He took another swig of his alcohol.

"Good," I said, nodding curtly. "I prefer it that way. I’d rather not deal with slavers or people who aid slavers. It just doesn’t sit well with me."

"Because it’s illegal?"

"Because it’s evil," I corrected the Dwarf, before changing topics. "So, where will we be meeting these smugglers?"

"They have a hideout in a tavern near the docks. That’s on the northern side of the harbor, so we won’t have to worry about running into too much trouble, I hope."

Right, trouble, I thought, remembering the reason why Gennady had to wear that cloak over his head, and I was staying in the inn by myself: there were very angry sailors on the lookout for us— as confirmed by Gennady— after the incident at the main pier area a few days ago. And it did not help that we tricked the guards to buy us some time so we could escape.

Were we wanted by the guards for tricking them? Probably not. However, picking a fight with dozens of sailors was probably against some law in Laxis, which meant that the city guards were keeping at least one eye out for us; we were not criminals, but there was most definitely a hefty fine we had to pay for partaking in a brawl.

Gennady wanted to avoid paying it if we could, and I did not disagree with that sentiment. So due to both those reasons, we were keeping on the down low while searching for a way out of this city.

I walked over to the closet, and pulled out my ‘Aria’ disguise. "Well then, let’s get going," I said to the Dwarf.

He frowned, scratching his scruffy beard. "Right now?" he asked. "I arranged a meeting for tonight."

"We want to scout out the place first, of course," I replied casually, taking off my pointed hat. "Plus, I’m sick and tired of being locked up in this room. Maybe I can look around for anything I might want to buy in the market. You’ve bought your Superior mana crystals, well I want something of my own too."

"Aight, if that’s what you want." Gennady gave a noncommittal shrug.

"Now, if you’ll excuse me," I said, gesturing at the door. "Could you please get out?" I held my change of clothes up, indicating I needed some privacy.

"Right." He hurriedly left the room.

I carefully inspected the array of mana crystals before me, reaching for one that was about the size of my hand and held it up against the lamplight. The blue-green gemstone glimmered, reflecting the shine into my eyes; it was bright.

I had read in A Tinkerer's Guide— one of the books Gennady had loaned me— that mana crystals of higher quality had highly reflective surfaces whereas lower quality mana crystals did not. This was due to the difference in the mana density inside each crystal, with an increase in mana leading to a more opaque body that allows less light to pass through. And yet, it was easy to mistake the light refracting through a translucent mana crystal as light being reflected on its surface, which often caused many without a discerning enough eye to be scammed out of their silver or gold.

I squinted, making a hole with my fingers and looking through it as though it would help me see better; it did, but by a small margin. I was almost certain that this mana crystal was worth its price— it was a Lesser mana crystal of ostensibly high quality costing 6 gold coins: that seemed like a steal to me.

"Hey Gennady," I called out to my Dwarven companion. "Is this one any good?"

"That?" He frowned, and took the mana crystal out of my hand; he scrutinized it for a moment, then waved his hand dismissively. "Bah, it’s only a Lesser, and it’s barely above average. Maybe for its price it’s good, but otherwise I wouldn’t buy it."

I nodded. "Thanks," I said, and turned to the store owner. "I’ll take it."

The woman smiled eagerly, rubbing her hands together as I completed the transaction; I managed to haggle the price down to 5 gold and 10 silver— it was only a two silver discount, but that was worth over a dozen meals, or a few nights in most regular inns.

I returned to Gennady as he crossed his thick arms over his broad chest; I inclined my head to the side. "What?" I asked.

"I told you not to buy it— it wasn’t even a good," he said.

"Are you saying it’s not good because it’s not a Superior mana crystal, or are you saying it’s not good because I was scammed out of my money?"

"Well, uh, it’s..." the Dwarf stammered, scratching the side of his beard. "I was more leaning towards the former," he finally said.

"Exactly." I smiled, and placed a hand on his right shoulder. "I got it because it was what I was looking for, and you told me it’s good for its price. I was taking your advice, don’t worry."

"But if you’re planning on getting a mana crystal to practice with, you should at least start with Inferiors, not Lessers," he objected.

"I’m not planning on using this just yet," I said, placing the blue-green gemstone into a small pouch, and tying it closed. I attached it to my leather belt, and strolled past Gennady. "It’s not for practice now. It’s for when we’re at sea and I’ve already mastered working on Inferiors. I’m planning ahead." I gestured for him. "Come on," I said, "let’s get going. We don’t want to be late."

We left the shop and headed towards the docks; we passed by ships that were not currently being used— many of them looked as though they had been left in disrepair for months— while others seemed as though they were having improvements added onto them. It was mostly empty of life however, since it was evening, and the little noise we heard came from the nearby bars, taverns, or inns which were beginning to teem with life at the end of twilight.

I followed Gennady as we made our way through the cobble street, finally stopping a block away from our destination. "There it is," he said. "The Merlion’s Alcove."

I glanced at the small, wooden building; it was a much more subdued tavern than the ones we had seen on the way here, yet there were clearly suspicious people making their way for this spot. With a name like that and with people as shady as this, you really can’t be more obvious that this is a cover!

"Let’s take a look around," I said.

We spent the next hour loitering around the area; the brilliant vermillion sunset was covered over by the thick, dark clouds before it had fully disappeared beyond the horizon, and a light pattering of rain began to fall upon us.

The drizzle slowly got heavier and heavier, and when it looked as though it would turn into a full-blown storm; Gennady and I had seen nothing indicating that we would run into any trouble in the tavern, so we decided to finally enter the tavern.

The double doors swung open with a hard push, as the bottom of the wood frame scratched across the floor. The tavern, which didn’t seem lively from the outside, actually had some minor activity on the inside; the thick walls must have prevented noise from leaking out, which led to my earlier assumption.

Regardless, it was almost evidently a facade: the bards playing in the corner evoked too large of a reaction from the early night crowd, and the boisterous laughter of sober men as they chatted only made the scene all-the-more jarring. I made sure to keep my hood up as a few faces inconspicuously eyed Gennady and I from their seats.

The Dwarf waded his way straight to the bar, plopping himself on one of their stools as his hood fell off his head. I wanted to throw it right back on, but it was already too late; the barkeep looked over him once over and nodded.

"What do you want?"

Gennady grinned in response, gesturing past the barkeep. "I want your best whiskey in the house— no, the cellar. And add in a nice strawberry on top. With one of those little pink umbrellas. Make sure to mix it with a good dose of nylos, I want it as bitter as possible."

The barkeep raised an eyebrow, and slowly said, "That’s… a long way to order our special drink. But I do believe that’s not a problem." He lifted the small wooden barrier separating us from the bar counter, and ushered us towards a door. "You can find someone able to set you up with your drink inside," he said.

"Thanks, lad."

Gennady stepped in first, almost too nonchalantly, as I kept two paces behind him. Isn’t he worried at all? I thought, narrowing my eyes.

We entered a dimly lit hallway, leading to a kitchen with cooks busy preparing more meals than they should have; a roughly dressed man stopped us in the middle of the corridor, and folded his arms. "What are you looking for, Dwarf?"

"Just a Merlion’s special— a nice bitter drink from below."

The man seemed to accept Gennady’s answer, and he gestured for us to follow him. He led us into a corner of the kitchen, and opened up what appeared to be a cellar door. He lifted the latch, revealing a stairway leading down into a hidden basement.

"There’s only one rule down there, and it’s ‘don’t cause any trouble’, got it?"

"‘Course," Gennady said, nodding. The man seemed unconvinced until Gennady nudged me.

"Oh— yeah." I nodded curtly, catching myself from stumbling over my words.

With my affirmation, the man stepped aside and let us enter; we went down the stairs— it wasn’t a long way down, only two flights at most— and reached a doorway. It was far easier to open than the front door of the Merlion’s Alcove, probably because they didn’t worry as much about noise escaping due to the rambunctious cover they had at the top.

I found my nose wrinkling as the door opened; an eclectic of scents ranging from food, to drinks, to drugs, to sex wafted in my direction, with an incredibly pungent smell leading the assault. I reached up to pinch my nose to protect it from the terrible stench, but only heard the clacking of my gloved nails striking my mask.

I cast my gaze around the room and was greeted by a far more naturally raucous crowd than before, with many of the individuals in it partaking in illicit activities. In addition to being set up like a regular tavern with tables and chairs strewn about with men and women consuming various foods and drinks, there were also various other forms of… entertainment available here.

There were men lounging in violet couches creased with golden lines at its edges, indulging in various kinds of substances: I recognized the smell and smoke of tobacco coming from most of these men, yet a few of them inhaled a colorless gas from a pipe which a hunch told me was the source of the pungent smell.

There was also a gambling area set up in the corner of the room, with scantily dressed women serving alcoholic beverages to the men dressed in robes playing with their gold and silver. While this might not seem like an unusual sight, it was, in fact, quite an uncommon one here in Laxis due to the laws banning any acts of gambling.

I conveniently ignored the corner of the room where moans and grunts were coming from, and followed Gennady as he strode forwards without even blinking. I stepped up beside him, and spoke quietly.

"Do you go to places like this often?"

"Yes," he said, continuing past a table of where an argument just broke out. A man stood up to throw a punch, and bouncers immediately swarmed him and dragged him out of the room. Gennady didn’t bat an eye. "But not for any of the reasons most come here for.

"Ever since I left the Taw Kingdom, I’ve been trying to widen my worldview. They thought I was crazy, but they also praised me as their best, and at the time, I thought that was a compliment. But when they went ahead with replacing me with that Scientist from Xan? I realized perhaps they truly thought me mad."

"Didn’t you say that your King pleaded for you to stay?" I asked, cocking my head.

"He did." Gennady nodded as he sat at the now vacated table. "Him and half of the other Dwarves I knew. But the other half? They’re glad I’m gone, and they’re willing to embrace that madman Bertrand to get it."

I pulled out the chair opposite to him, and took a seat as well. "And what exactly have you been doing to… widen your worldview?"

"For starters," he said leaning in, "I learned magic."

I frowned. "What does that have to do with any of this?"

"Magic itself is against the law. Even in the criminal world, it’s not exactly commonplace to find a spellcaster. But that’s the only place you can find spellcasters. The Dark Crusaders have many connections in the underground, and that’s how I first contacted them."

I drew in a sharp breath, and remembered why I had good reason to not fully trust Gennady just yet; I did not know what his motives were— he told me he just wanted to help me out and return to his Kingdom because of the Abominations, but how much of that was true? What if he was fully aligned with the Dark Crusaders? Could this have all been a trap for me because I killed Victor—

A voice broke me out of my thoughts, stifling my paranoia for just a moment. "Ah, I was told to expect a rather rotund looking man tonight, but I never suspected it to be a Dwarf."

A rough, older looking man approached the table accompanied by a delicate, young woman. The juxtaposition between the two was immediately visible; the man was dressed in rough leather clothing, giving his already tough exterior emphasized by his scowl an even more weathered look. Meanwhile, the young woman wore more of the fashion I had seen in Laxis, wearing pure, white robes that covered everything but her smiling face. Looking between the two was like looking between the fragile bud of a flower and its sharp thorns.

"Oh, uh, Mr Jack and Ms Lisa?" Gennady greeted them.

"No need for formalities, Dwarf. Hearing it from your kind just doesn’t sound right. I’m assuming you’re Gen?"

"Yes, and this is my companion, Aria."

I nodded my head slightly at the two smugglers. Jack ignored it, and joined our table without any invitation by taking a seat and throwing his feet up onto the table.

"So," he started, "what do you two want?"

"We heard you two are the best smugglers in all of Laxis, and we’d like your help to get us out of this city."

"We don’t smuggle people, Dwarf. It’s too hard, and if you’re wanted by one of the gangs or pirates here, we’d be burning a lot of bridges."

"Of course. But that’s not a problem with us," Gennady said, waving a hand dismissively. "We arrived in Luke just the other day. Ain’t got problems with any of the groups in the city."

"A few days is a lot of time." Jack stared at us as his brows arched darkly over his forehead. "Or did you think I didn’t hear about what you did at the harbor just the other day?"

I saw Gennady gulp, hesitating.

"That was a minor incident," he said. Then he glanced down at the table. "Y’know, we haven’t even had anything to drink just yet." He turned to a passing server and waved them down. "Get me and this lad a drink—"

"I’m not a lad, Dwarf," Jack spat, cutting him off. "And I don’t have time for this. We’ll be leaving—"

"I think we should at least stay for a bit, Jack," a soft voice spoke over him. Lisa glanced at her companion with her smile still plastered onto her face. "It would not be wise to turn down a free meal."

The man hesitated, eyes darting between Lisa and Gennady, then he acquiesced. "Fine," he said. "But I’m only staying because you asked me to, Lisa. The Dwarf better not get his hopes up that we’ll do this job for him."

"Hah," Gennady laughed, "is that a challenge? Ye don’t know how friendly us Dwarves get over drinks."

"I know all too well, little man."

Gennady ignored the provocation; he continued his negotiation with Jack as drinks were served to the table. I just sat in my chair, neither contributing to the conversation nor consuming any of the beverages in front of me.

I watched on as both men got drunker and drunker, while the young woman simply sat there, sipping on a glass of wine. I would have thought that getting inebriated would make Jack more amicable to striking up a deal, but it seemed to have only affirmed his resolve.

"—I don’t care about who you are or if you’re a damned Hunter or the King of this country. I told you, I’m not bringing you to that damned Dwarven Kingdom!"

"C’mon, lad—"

"Don’t call me that! The only reason I’m sitting here, listening to you yap your mouth off is because my partner of six years— who usually has a good intuition— thinks you would be worth our time! But now I’m starting to doubt that even is the case anymore."

Gennady sighed, taking a swig of ale. "Listen," he said, slamming the mug down. "I can offer you twice whatever the usual cost you charge for smuggling goods our size over the same distance we’re asking you. In fact, you don’t even have to bring us all the way to Taw— you can stop at Puer… no, before Puer, and we can depart from there. I’ll even throw in a good enchanted sword to replace that rusty, old blade there." He pointed a tired arm at the man’s waist.

Jack’s eyes flashed, looking down at his sword. I looked at his furious gaze, and I also remembered Gennady’s talk of a Dwarf’s craft; I could almost predict what would happen next.

And I did not like it one bit.

The smuggler opened his mouth, spit already coming out—

"You boys are intolerable," Lisa said, cutting him off once again. This time, Jack looked irritated at his partner’s casual interruption of when he was speaking. But she ignored him, and stared at me. "You haven’t spoken all this time, what do you have to say, little girl?"

I raised an eyebrow at that, but did not comment on how she knew I was a girl. She probably heard about it being mentioned in the same breath as Gennady fighting with sailors in the harbor. A simple extrapolation of events and their associated characters.

"What do you mean by that?" I replied with a question.

"I’m curious," she said, lowering her wine glass. "You and your companion want to leave this country, and we’re not going to do this for you: what do you have to say?"

"If you reject us, we’ll just have to find others to do this for us." I shrugged.

"Interesting." Lisa played with her wine glass, rocking it back and forth on the wooden table, causing a swirl in the lavender liquid inside of it. "And what happens if they all reject you? Suppose we’re the last possible person you could approach to bring us to your destination: what would you do now?"

"Oi, Lisa, what are you doing?" Jack asked, annoyance clearly written across his face.

I peered into the young woman’s eyes, and looked past her smile. "You want us to win you over," I stated simply.

She did not look away. "...perhaps."

Gennady, in his drunken stupor, just seemed confused and could not help me. So I drew in a deep breath, and reached for my sides.

"If you were indeed the last people I could approach," I said softly, "then I would be desperate. If that were the case, I’d offer you this."

I pulled the coin pouch, slightly loosening its string, and slid it across the table. The yellow glitter of gold coins barely escaped the small opening, but it was enough to get a reaction out of the two.

"A platinum and a half," I said. "That’s all I have to offer, yet it is more than you’ve made in a job as simple as this, no?"

I saw Jack’s eyes cloud over with greed and Lisa’s smile widen even further. "That is quite the offer," the young woman commented.

"It is." I nodded my head.

"We’ll take it—" Jack began, his speech still slightly slurred.

Then I scooped the pouch back up and placed it. "But since this isn’t that kind of a situation, I think my friend and I will be taking our leave."

"Wait, but…" Jack exchanged a glance with Lisa, and he quickly straightened. His tone of voice changed when he spoke up again. "We’ll do it for… three quarters the price?"

I stood up, but Lisa put up a hand to stop me.

"A half," she said. "Give us a half of that, and you’ll soon find yourself on a ship heading straight to Jahar’taw."

I paused to consider this for a second, then I nodded. "Deal." I brought a hand forward and shook with the young woman.

And with that, it was over. We decided to meet two days from now at the docks, just before dawn. We agreed to pay half of the cost upon our next meeting, and the rest when we arrived in the Taw Kingdom.

Then Lisa grabbed her drunken companion by the arm and left the table. As they did, I could hear Jack whispering angrily at Lisa about how she lowered the price so quickly; he seemed like a man who only cared about money once it was a large enough sum, and I was right.

"Lass, are you sure you should’ve paid them so much?" Gennady quickly asked once they left. "That’s over 70 gold!" he exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. "I paid you half as much just to escort me to Taw, don’t act like it’s a ridiculous sum now that I’m paying someone else the same amount."

"Well yeah." The Dwarf scratched the side of his head, frowning. "But you’re paying more than two times what I was offering to pay them. Don’t you think you jumped the gun a bit?"

"No." I shook my head. "This is the reason why I save my money, Gennady: money is to be spent, and I’m spending it to guarantee my safety. We’re not just buying passage through the sea with that, we’re also buying their loyalty. If they know we can pay them more, they would be all the more incentivized to make sure nothing happens to us."

"But—"

"And don’t pretend that I’m paying it all," I said, cutting him off. "We’ll be splitting the bill since it’s for the both of us."

Gennady’s jaw dropped.

"That’s just for the payment to go to Taw, not for the drinks tonight. That’s on you."

After all, while we were both going to Taw together, he was the only one to have consumed all those drinks.

Chapter 24: Smuggling Job

"You’re spending more money?" Gennady asked me, frowning.

"Yes," I said, turning back to face him. I raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong with that?"

"No." He shook his head and sighed. "But you barely spent any gold since I met you other than the time you paid me, and now you’re throwing it all around. I was just curious why the sudden change."

"I told you didn’t I? Money is supposed to be spent, not hoarded." I raised a hand up, cutting the Dwarf off from pointing out the obvious. "And," I added, wagging a finger, "this is all for my safety and protection."

After all, what was the point of money if you were dead? That was simple logic— at least, to me. Gennady didn’t argue, and he simply followed me as I entered the Alchemist shop.

It wasn’t the biggest shop in the world; there weren’t a vast array of potions available for me to pick out, nor were there anything truly high quality being sold here. I had seen powerful alchemical potions back when I was with the Dark Crusaders and back when I briefly met Felix: the potions here were relatively unimpressive.

I glanced past a glowing green vial of acid that seemed incredibly dangerous. I’m not getting close to that, I told myself, fearing that I might accidentally drop it due to some clumsy mistake.

I took a look through the selection of healing potions they had available; I remembered being informed of how their potency was determined by the brilliance of their glow. I narrowed my eyes as I carefully inspected one, finding there to be nothing more than a weak dim coming off of one of the more expensive vials on the shelf.

Seven and a half gold. I shook my head. That was expensive, but I needed some reassurance that if anything happened to me, I could at least try to undo the damage. This healing potion probably wouldn’t regrow a lost arm or anything of the like, but it could at least stop the bleeding. And that was better than cauterizing whatever wounds I could possibly suffer from.

I grabbed a few more potions of the shelves— I took mostly healing potions, but I found the concept of a stamina potion interesting and snatched one as well— before heading to the counter and paying it for it all. When I asked Gennady if he wanted to get any, he gestured at a pouch around his waist.

"Already got some," he said. "Always gotta be prepared in case something bad happens. I’m surprised you didn’t already own a few given how paranoid you can sometimes get."

"I’m not paranoid." I rolled my eyes. "And I did buy some back when I was still in the Free Lands. I only ever got to use one vial after… an incident there. I have another packed away in my bag which I always have with me on dangerous outings."

The Dwarf snorted. "She says she’s not paranoid as she walks out of an Alchemist shop with four healing potions."

I shrugged. "I’m just being cautious."

"And I’m just your any, old Tinkerer, ain’t I?"

I gave him a mock glare, but did not comment further. We headed our way back to the inn to finish our preparation for tomorrow night; we were finally leaving Laxis. Personally, I did not have much to pack, but Gennady was a different story.

"So," I started, staring at the bike. "How are we going to sneak that into the docks?"

"Good question," he said, scratching his beard. "I could drive it to the docks now and stow it away somewhere nearby our meeting location ahead of time, that way we can just push it along the rest of the way on the night itself."

"Sounds good to me." I nodded.

"I’ll do that now, actually. Here,"— I stumbled back as Gennady placed his large backpack on my arms and got on his bike— "take care of that for a bit, will ya?"

"Wait—"

The Dwarf started up the bike, turning on its engine; white gas puffed out sounding like quick, short breaths and filling the air with noise and fumes.

"Sorry, can’t hear you!" he called out to me as he drove off.

I stared at his figure as it disappeared down the street, still holding his mountainous bag on my arms.

"...did he really just do that to me?" I paused, then corrected myself. "Did I just allow him to do that to me?"

After packing all our belongings, we were gone; we paid the innkeeper what we owed them— Gennady and I split the cost, of course— and headed out of the inn. It was barely sundown and people were starting to retire for the day.

The two of us kept close to the edge of the main roads, although we made sure not to stray too far into the alleyways and side streets riddled with potential crimes just waiting to happen. We finally reached the small warehouse Gennady stashed away his bike after paying off the owner; the Dwarf hefted his bag onto the vehicle, and he began rolling it alongside him as we finally reached our destination.

Darkness had taken over at this point, and apart from the glow of the nearby torchlight, there was no more light to illuminate the night; the clouds covered the glittering star light of the sky, while obscuring most of the crescent moon.

A lone person, however, waited for us in the darkness. Gennady stepped forward to approach them, but I held an arm out. "Wait," I said. "Where’s Lisa?"

The person was clearly Jack, with his broad frame and tall figure— and that was not even mentioning the way he was dressed. Gennady raised his shoulders in a shrug.

"Don’t know. Maybe she’s getting the boat?"

"We should make sure." I felt my lips purse into a thin line. "That man didn’t like you and obviously didn’t want to do the job. He could’ve very easily changed his mind after he sobered up."

"Then that means he’s just here to tell us that he won’t be doing the job," Gennady said, taking a step forward anyways. He walked past me and called out to the man. "Oi, lad, where’s Lisa? What happened to our deal?"

The smuggler glanced up and glared at Gennady. "Shut it, Dwarf. You’re making too much noise. This is supposed to be a covert meeting, and you’re over here screaming my ears out."

"Aren’t you going to answer my question?"

"Who gives—"

I quickly walked past Gennady and holding up a bag of coins, I spoke over the two before they could begin arguing again. "Jack," I said, trying not to speak too loudly. "Where’s Lisa? Why are you the only one here?"

Jack eyed the pouch and bit back his tongue; he relaxed his posture, and gestured further down the docks. "She’s bringing the boat over. We’ll be taking it to a merchant vessel anchored just outside of port."

"And are you sure we’ll be fine?" I asked, raising an eyebrow; I was not sure why I bothered doing that since my face was obscured by my mask, but I did it anyways. "If we’re just taking an ordinary ship, won’t we still be under threat of pirates?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Our ship is special. It’s used to bring a lot of illegal goods into the city from sea— most pirates will recognize it and leave it alone. That doesn’t mean we’re safe from danger, however, but we’ll be far less of a target than any old ship leaving the harbor."

"That’s one of the safest routes, lass." Gennady placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don’t worry, we’ll be fine."

I turned to meet the Dwarf’s eyes, and stared into it for a moment; I held my friend’s gaze for just a moment, and nodded. "Stop assuming I’m paranoid," I said. "I was just curious."

He grinned, and smacked me across the back. I braced for it, and didn’t double over for once.

Jack snorted. "Don’t agree with me, Dwarf. You’ll make me puke before we even get to sea."

Gennady opened his mouth to snap back, but I stopped him. "I think she’s here." I pointed at a shadow moving in the rough waves; a small boat— one that could probably only fit a dozen people— was making its way towards the docks.

"Is that her?" I asked Jack as I stepped forward to him; the man did not seem like he particularly disliked me despite his clear animosity towards Gennady whom I was affiliated with, and he nodded.

"Yes. It’s time for us to go." He stalked down the wooden platform we were standing on, down towards the small beach just below the pier. The boat had two men pushing it onto shore, as I saw the vague outline of Lisa walking ahead of them.

"Aria," the young woman greeted me. She quickly nodded at Gennady to the side, before directing her full attention on me. "You’re early; quite the punctual girl, aren’t you?"

"We just had to make sure there were no surprises, that’s all," I said truthfully. "So you guys didn’t change your mind? You’ll still be doing the job?"

"Of course." She cocked her head. "Why? Did something happen?"

"No, just curious."

"Well," Lisa said, clasping her hands together. "Unless you’ve decided to renegotiate the fee you’ll be paying us, we’ll be doing the job without any issue— even if Jack decides to remain dour about it."

"We’re not renegotiating unless you two are open to renegotiate."

"Then it’s settled. Just place your things in the boat, and we’ll be off." The young woman merrily patted my backpack but I quickly knocked her hand aside. "Oh—"

"Sorry," I quickly said, cautiously protecting my backpack. "But I’d rather you not touch my stuff."

"Of course, I do apologize." She placatingly backed away, and lowered her head. "I’m sure you have your reasons, but do not worry, we won’t ask any questions."

"Thanks."

Gennady and I soon found ourselves in the small boat riding the waves into the sea; he had to tie his bike down so it did not fall off into the rough waters. The two men began rowing as Lisa and Jack simply settled into the seat across from us.

It took a while, but we eventually saw the ship awaiting us in the distance. We got closer and closer until we finally arrived, and we climbed aboard the transportation vessel. I steadied myself as I stepped foot on deck, while Gennady, Lisa, and Jack trotted along as if the ship wasn’t rocking with every passing second.

"Think you’ll get sick?" Gennady asked, cocking a brow.

"No," I said, grabbing hold onto his arm. "I just have to get used to this. It’s… less stable than what I’m used to."

And by that, I meant it wasn’t like the one time I went on a cruise ship ride back on Earth. It was a completely different experience— but the constant swaying feeling while standing was something I could bear given enough time.

"If you will follow me, I can show you to your rooms." Lisa approached us from the side, smiling. "Apologies if it’s not suited to your liking, but we aren’t a business that ensures the quality of the traveling experience— we’re still rather new to this kind of ‘people transportation’, you see."

"And how about that?" I asked, gesturing at Gennady’s bike which was just brought onto the deck by some sailors.

"We’ll keep it in cargo."

I turned back to Gennady and he seemed fine with it, so we let them take his bike down below deck. We followed Lisa as she led us to our rooms— the ship was not exactly the biggest one in the first place, and it was built to have more space for transporting goods rather than people. It probably prioritized speed rather than bulk deliveries, which was all the better for me since I would prefer it if we reached Taw sooner rather than later.

I had expected Lisa to bring us to some shared sleeping quarters, and was surprised to find myself standing in my own private room.

"We… don’t have to pay for our own separate rooms, right?" I asked, resisting the urge to count how many gold coins I had left after spending it on potions and other traveling necessities.

"Of course not," the young woman said, waving a hand dismissively. "I just find it rather… improper for a young girl such as you to be sleeping in the same room with an older man like him. No offense."

Gennady shrugged. "None taken."

Lisa turned back to me and cocked her head. "Unless you prefer to sleep—"

"I prefer to sleep alone," I cut her off. "Thanks."

"I’m glad to hear it." She smiled and nodded at Gennady. "I’ll bring you to your room next, and I’ll leave you be, ok?"

I waved farewell to my companion and the young woman as they headed off further down the hallway. I closed the door behind me, making sure to bolt it shut so that no one could just enter without me letting them. I hear their footsteps slowly fade into the distance and sighed.

"I might be a little seasick," I murmured under my breath.

It was nothing unbearable, but it was an unusual feeling to have after so long staying grounded on land. I glanced out the window of my room, and saw the distant lights of the city of Luke as nothing more than a blur.

Won’t be missing that city, I thought, remembering how I was pretty much locked in a room for the entirety of the time I spent there. At least the beach was nice, apart from that weird encounter with the Half Elf and the possible panic attack I spontaneously suffered from.

In other words, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant stay, yet compared to my time in the Free Lands, I had rather enjoyed myself; I placed my backpack down and quickly rummaged through it. I had everything important— nothing was left behind, which was good.

If I somehow left a grimoire or tome which contained anything that could possibly be traced back to me or ‘Aria’, I might be forced to throw away my Hunter’s license and get a new fake identity. I would not have liked that, considering that was my mom’s name which I cherished very much.

It was one way I remembered her, another being the purple pointed hat that was neatly folded in my bag; I stared down at it, and almost instinctively reached out to it. I paused, and shook my head.

It did not belong to my mother; I had bought it from a milliner and had them design it to be as similar as mom’s was, but it was not the same. I slowly closed my bag and sighed.

My mask was stuffy; wearing it for so long was not exactly comfortable and I wanted to take it off. I considered this for a moment, tapping on the hard shell worn on my face with my gloved fingertips, before deciding against it. If someone barges in—

Someone barged in.

I jumped up in a panic, reaching for my dagger down at my waist. Lisa blinked as she stepped into the room, looking down at the now broken bolt rolling on the floor.

"Huh," she said, picking it up. "We’ll need to get that replaced."

"What are you doing?" I asked, lowering my guard for just a little bit.

"Sorry, are you busy? I had no idea," Lisa apologized as she backed out of the room. "I can come back later— and maybe get someone to take a look at the lock. I didn’t know it would break so easily. Probably because of old age."

"Come back," I sighed, sitting back down. "I’m not busy. And you probably wanted to talk about your payment, right?"

Lisa’s face immediately brightened at that, and she hurriedly entered back into the room. "Yes. Actually, I was hoping to discuss exactly that."

"We promised half when we left, and the other half when we arrived, didn’t we?"

She nodded her head in agreement. "We did."

"But we haven’t left yet, have we?" I raised an eyebrow, and she paused.

"W-well, we’ll be going at dawn. There isn’t really a difference if you pay me now and pay me later, right?"

"No," I said, "there is a difference." I gestured vaguely out the window and began to explain. "Say I pay you now, what’s going to stop you from making up some sort of excuse tomorrow morning that we can’t leave and that you misplaced the money? You’d force us to go back empty handed, and we can’t do anything about it."

Lisa’s smile wavered, and she put out a hand. "We aren’t planning to do anything like that!" she protested, trying to keep her cool. "I promise. I was just a bit overeager to get paid, that’s all! I wasn’t going to betray you— our reputation is on the line here!"

"And how exactly are two strangers with no connections in Luke going to harm your reputation?"

"I…" she trailed off. The young woman shuffled uncomfortably on her feet, playing with her hair using her fingers. "I wasn’t going to do that."

I just stared blankly at her; I was not sure whether I believed her, and I didn’t even mean to accuse her in the first place. I was simply explaining the logic behind why I thought it wasn’t a good idea to pay her at the current moment.

"Look," I said, standing up. "If I didn’t trust you at least a little bit, I wouldn’t have even gotten on this ship. But the way you’re acting now just screams all kinds of suspicious to me. Explain yourself."

Lisa froze, and she slowly lowered her hand down to her sides. She took a deep breath, whispering. "We need the gold."

"Excuse me?"

She spoke louder. "I said, we need the gold."

I stood there, completely bewildered. "Aren’t you guys the best smugglers in all of Luke?"

"We are," Lisa said, exhaling a frustrated breath. "Or we should be. But Jack’s stubbornness is costing us so many jobs. We used to get a new job every single month, but in the last year, we haven’t gotten anywhere near as many."

"Why’s that?" I asked, looking at the dejected girl.

"Because there’s this new group that took control over the underground recently. They’re called the Elise, and in a single year, they managed to form connections with all the various criminal groups, gangs, and pirates around Luke. They’re trying to expand further into the rest of Laxis now, and they wanted to hire us to do a job for them two months ago, and they offered to pay us more money than we’ve ever been paid. But Jack refused. So now we’re blacklisted by every major group in the surrounding area. We’re still the best smugglers in Luke, but no one will be hiring our services until we acquiesce."

I frowned. "And why doesn’t Jack want to work with them?"

"You’ve seen how he is around you Dwarf friend, haven’t you?" She waited for me to respond, and when I nodded she continued. "Well, there are rumors that the leader of the Elise is a Half Elf by the name of Bahr."

I felt my ears perk up at that. "A Half Elf?"

"Yes," she said, rubbing at her temples. "And I think that might be why Jack is so adamant against working with them. It’s just so…"

"Foolish?" I helpfully piped up.

"That’s a nice way of putting it."

"And so now you’re doing this job with us— complete strangers, since we aren’t aware of any of this politics going on in the underground world of Luke?"

"It’s not exactly a well kept secret." She walked past me, and sat down on my bed without my permission. "But it’s not something you’d hear about just by poking around the city for a few days or even weeks. We still have an offer on the table open for us by the Elise, so we aren’t completely hated just yet."

I nodded my head, slowly processing all the information she had given me. "And you want to get out of the city before things get worse?"

"Yes." Lisa smiled at me. "You’re so clever, Aria. I didn’t expect a girl as young as you to be so keen and sharp."

I ignored the flattery as she continued.

"That’s why when you two came and offered us the opportunity to not only leave Luke but pay us to do so, I made sure Jack took it. That’s why I pushed for you to speak, since I knew he would never accept whatever terms your Dwarf friend laid out."

I recalled specifically how Lisa kept asking me questions whenever it seemed like Jack was about to storm off from the conversation. "That makes sense, I guess;" I said.

"Exactly." The young woman nodded eagerly at me. She smiled as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "That’s why you can trust us. Trust me."

I glanced up at her and met her gaze. I held it for just a second, before replying.

"Nice try, but I’m not paying you until tomorrow."

"Oh well, it was worth a shot." Lisa stood back up and shrugged.

I watched her as she began to make her way out of the room, before calling out to her.

"So was that all a lie?" I narrowed my eyes.

"No," she said. "I didn’t make any of that up. It’s all the truth, but I would feel better if I knew I had some of my payment with me right now instead of tomorrow. I guess I’ll just have to wait."

Slowly, I lowered my hand to the coin pouch at my side; Lisa paused, noticing the subtle movement. Then I let my hands droop to my sides.

"Sorry. You’ll indeed have to wait."

She sighed. "Oh well. As long as I’m paid by morning."

"That’s only if we leave in the morning," I stated.

Lisa just nodded nonchalantly. "Right, right. Well, I’ll have to head off to bed. Goodnight, Aria."

With that, she closed the door behind her and I was left alone once again. The door slowly creaked back open due to the broken lock and I just watched with narrowed eyes as her shadow disappeared in the hallway.

I had almost wanted to pay her; it only made sense for me to give her what she wanted to ensure she did not betray us. But gold only bought so much loyalty: if I were too liberal in my spending, it could be taken as a form of naivete. I had to ensure that these smugglers were both disincentivized from betraying me as well as discouraged from exploiting me— plus, I did not fully trust her. The way she barged in… was suspicious, to say the least.

So I put my foot down instead of giving her what she wanted.

I was not sure if that was the best thing to do here, but I had to do it. It might backfire or it might not. All that was left was for me to sleep and see how things went tomorrow.

Hopefully, it would be smooth sailing from here.

Chapter 25: Pursued

I watched as the city of Luke slowly disappeared into the horizon; I held firm to the wooden side of the ship as it rocked with the waves, keeping myself from losing balance and falling over.

We continued to sail away from the Capital city of Laxis until it was nothing more than a speck in the distance. The strong but steady tides of the ocean took over, and I found myself walking through the deck of the ship with very little difficulty.

Lisa saw me approach and broke off from the Captain of the ship. She called Jack over as the grouchy man stepped up in front of her and took the lead to meet me.

"Here," I said, handing over the pouch of gold coins. "This is the first half of the payment."

Jack grunted in affirmation. "Good." He tossed it back to Lisa. "You and your friend better have the second payment ready once we reach Taw. I’m not going to wait around that damned country for you to scrape up whatever gold you owe us."

"There’s no need to worry about that— you’ve already seen the gold, haven’t you?" I cocked my head to the side.

"No. We’ve only seen the tip of it. You could’ve easily given the appearance of a bag full of gold coins when it’s gold stacked on top of bronze and silver. I won’t believe it till every single coin is fully accounted for."

I gestured at the coin pouch I just gave him. "So why aren’t you checking that?"

"Because," Lisa started, cutting off her companion, "I’ll take care of it." She nodded at him with a smile, and he simply accepted it.

"You heard her. She’s my partner, and she’s trustworthy. She hasn’t given me any reason to believe otherwise."

"Likewise for me," Lisa agreed. "I trust his judgement, and he trusts my attention to detail. That’s why we work so well."

"That’s good," I remarked. "I hope to see you two in action when you bring Gennady and I safely to Jahar’taw."

Lisa stepped forward, and placed a hand on my shoulder reassuringly. "We’ve got the first half of our payment, so we’ll make sure you get to the Taw Kingdom. Trust me," she said.

I hesitated, eyeing her companion standing behind her with his arms folded. Slowly, I lifted her hand off my shoulder. "I’ll trust that my gold is convincing enough for you to actually do the job."

She shrugged. "Same thing."

I didn’t respond to that. Lisa returned to discussing something with the Captain as Jack took off to do his own thing. I took a cursory glance around the ship— there were about a dozen sailors going about their duties, although some were clearly more free than others.

I stood there for a moment, taking a final look back at the direction we came from, and saw no city; we were in dangerous waters now. There could be Monster attacks coming from down below, or pirate raids coming from anywhere around us. I was nervous.

I had traversed through the Free Lands alone as a kid facing little trouble; in those months, I had only run into a handful of incidents which ended in unfortunate bloodshed. Those experiences had taught me how to take care of myself while in a city, even if it was a poor one with a high crime rate. However, here out in the ocean, none of that helped.

It was a perilous voyage: one that I was unused to in every way possible. I was not sure what would happen, and that uncertainty left me in an uneasy state of mind. I found my eyes darting around the horizon in search of any ships within the vicinity. However due to the once again cloudy skies, it made it incredibly difficult to see which only served to exacerbate my worries.

"What are ya so uptight about?" Gennady asked, approaching me from behind.

I turned around to face him as he casually strolled up beside me and leaned against the edge of the ship. "Nothing," I said. "Just on the lookout."

"On the lookout for… what exactly?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"...anything?"

I averted my gaze as the Dwarf stared into me with his green eyes. I knew what he was thinking, but I didn’t want to defend myself and repeat the same conversation we had several times.

"Look," I said, breaking the silence, "the waters are infested with pirates and sea creatures that could attack us at any time. Even if Lisa and Jack are really able to bring us Jahar’taw as we’ve contracted them to, would they be able to protect us from a group of Horned Sharks? Let alone a Kraken or a Serpent Shrimp?"

"So what are you going to do? Stand watch all day and all night?" His gaze bore into me and I hesitated. "Just relax, lass. Enjoy the trip. It’s your first time on a ship!"

No, it isn’t. I shook my head. "I am aware that I can’t be on guard every waking moment of my life," I said. I raised a finger, cutting the Dwarf off as he opened his mouth. "However, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t help where I can."

"And if you see a ship?" he asked. "How are ya gonna differentiate a regular merchant’s vessel from pirates?"

"I won’t." I ignored the blank room Gennady gave me, and sighed. "If I do see a ship, I’ll tell Lisa or Jack. I’ll ask them to get the Captain to avoid them as best we can. I don’t care if it’s a rowboat or a large mana ship— we steer clear, no matter what."

He ran his hands along his chin, ruffling his beard. "That might delay our travels by a good week or two, y’know?"

"Yes," I said. "But I’d rather not get ambushed in the off chance a group of pirate’s that are unfriendly with our smuggler friends run into us.

I paused, remembering what Lisa told me the night before, and I leaned over to the Dwarf.

"And," I whispered, "they aren’t in the best of terms with the big shots in the area."

"What do you mean?" Gennady asked, frowning.

"I mean that they’re starting to fall out of favor. Have you heard of the Elise?" I waited for his response, and once he nodded I continued. "They rule the underground in Luke right now. But Jack and Lisa refuse to work for them… or something. Lisa told me that the Elise haven’t taken action against them beyond putting pressure on their finances and business, but what happens if they find out they’re trying to escape this?"

Slowly, Gennady registered what I was trying to say.

"You mean if we run into a group affiliated with the Elise, and they try to grab Lisa and Jack to send them back and stop them from leaving?"

I met his eyes and held it for a moment. "Yes," I said, thinking of all the ways our trip could go awry. "We’d be uninterested third parties drawn into a conflict we wouldn’t want to be a part of. If we even try to defend the ship, we could make enemies with more than just a couple of sailors in the city. And if we don’t defend the ship?"

"We’d lose our ticket to Jahar’taw, as well as half our gold," Gennady finished the thought for me.

I nodded. "Exactly."

He considered this for a moment; I was speaking reason— or at least, I thought I was. It seemed that I might have been somewhat right as Gennady put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Fine, maybe ye are correct to be a little uptight."

I cocked a brow.

"However," he said, wagging a finger, "you shouldn’t just be up here doing nothing. I’m here too!" He jabbed his thumb into his own chest and grinned. "We can swap out whenever you’re feeling tired and want to lie back down!"

I paused for just a second, then smiled. "Thanks. But I think I’ll be fine for the next few hours. I’ll just practice drawing my runes while looking up every-so-often."

"Just don’t push yourself too hard." Gennady clasped my back lightly, and I rolled my eyes.

"I’m telling you, I won’t get seasick."

"You sure?"

I raised my shoulders up into a shrug. "I’ll be fine, I think."

"Ye say that, but ye said that same thing when I was driving and you started reading, didn’t you?"

Slowly, I stopped unpacking my bag, and put the pen down.

"Maybe you’re right. I’ll just get used to it first."

"Good," he snorted.

I spent most of the day simply sweeping my gaze across the horizon and taking in the scenery; we passed by only two ships— two other ships that dared to brave the waters in the current climate. Considering that we had just left the city of Luke, that was a very sparse number of boats at sea.

They were probably smuggling vessels too, if I had to assume. There were no altercations, and we didn’t even come close to getting a proper look at the crews of each ship. Regardless, I made sure to inform Lisa and Jack of my desire for them to remain vigilant.

At one point, I caught a few sailors giving me odd glances; I brushed it off, assuming that they were just curious about why I was wearing a mask. I focused on one thing only, and that was keeping us safe.

It was close to sunset when Gennady came up on deck to chat with me for a bit. We discussed my progress in tinkering, and he allowed me to examine his bazooka-cannon weapon he said was the best personal weapon he had ever made.

"As you can see, the runes aren’t just etched into the surface of the mana crystal. It spreads out into the Annihilator itself— it’s a mixture of tinkering techniques, see?"

I raised an eyebrow, and turned to look at him. "I don’t recognize any of these patterns."

"That’s not what I was—" he groaned and shook his head. "Of course you won’t, lass. It’s not just advanced technique that’s far above your skill level, it’s also a special something I’ve… ‘invented’."

He nudged me not-so-subtly, and I remembered what he told me: he learnt magical spells and studied the spell circles to help create this ‘Annihilator’ weapon. In fact, it was specifically based on a powerful spell called ‘Annihilation’ that was supposedly capable of incinerating almost anything it struck. But I also remembered something else.

"Didn’t you say that it didn’t work?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

He hesitated. "...yes."

I gave him a blank look, as he quickly continued.

"Look, I have gotten all the theory down. I’ve even written a paper on it, and had it sent and reviewed by a friend of mine back in Jahar’taw. He said it should work, and I know it should work. But it’s just that whenever I try to use it…"

"It doesn’t work?"

Gennady threw his hands in the air. "You’re killing me, lass. Can we just talk about you and your tinkering?"

"I know that it’s going pretty well since you’re the one teaching me," I said with a wink and a grin. "However, if you want to know about the specifics— I still don’t think I can craft a proper weapon just yet. I probably could make basic mana tools, but that’s not what I want."

"You’ve made great progress in the amount of time you’ve spent doing this, lass," Gennady said, shaking his head. "Just don’t rush it, and you’ll be a great Tinkerer one day."

I smiled, and then paused. I slowly sat up from where I was seated in the deck of the ship with my back faced against a wall, and looked around.

A thin mist was slowly enveloping the boat, obscuring us further into darkness even before the sun had fully fallen. I walked up to Lisa who was talking to the Captain, and called out to her.

"What’s going on?" I asked.

"It’s a light fog," she said. "It’s normal in these areas. There’s nothing to worry about."

"But we can’t see," I pointed out the obvious. "What happens if we get lost— or worse, we get attacked while blinded?"

Lisa blinked. She exchanged a glance with the Captain, before turning back to me. "Aria, this fog isn’t a one way thing. If we spot someone in the fog, chances are that’d be the first time they spotted us too. There won’t be any attacks."

"How can you be sure about that?" I met the young woman’s eyes, and held it.

The white blanket thickened all around us as we entered further into the fog. Lisa fidgeted, then sighed.

"How can we ever be sure of anything, Aria?" she asked, and I cocked my head.

"We can’t," I said, responding instantly. "That’s why I’d rather take the safer route, even if it’s longer."

"But—"

I put my foot down. I did not want to argue about this; we were already fairly deep into the fog. And…

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw a shadow. I squinted, peering carefully into the direction I swore I saw a movement in the distance. It was the nebulous outline of a ship. I pointed at it.

"What’s that?"

"That?" Lisa cocked her head. "It’s probably another ship crossing through the fog with us."

"And you guys aren’t worried?" I asked, drawing my lips into a thin line. "This is the perfect spot for an ambush, and we’re not even going to try and avoid them? Especially since it looks like they came from behind us."

"Aria…" The young woman sighed, rubbing her temples. "What do you suggest we do?"

"We go back and around," I said simply. "I’m not getting myself stuck in some stupid ambush by pirates tailing us because of this fog."

She hesitated, looking at me once over, before she finally acquiesced. She turned away from me and addressed the Captain with a nod.

"Turn us back."

"‘Scuse me, ma’am?" the Captain asked, raising an eyebrow. "You’re not really going to listen to this girl just because she asked you to?"

"I’m her employer." I folded my arms. "And by extension, I’m yours too. Bring us back."

"Just because of another ship?" He stared at me, his forehead creasing and his lips contorting to a frown.

"Yes."

He turned to Lisa, then back at me. "It’s just a ship. There’s nothing wrong with seeing other ships in the water!" he said emphatically.

"Not when no other boats dare to leave port." I watched as his brows slowly arched darkly over his forehead, and I frowned. "What seems to be the problem?" I carefully eyed the saber hanging around his waist.

"It’ll delay us by a day."

My eyes flickered as his hands lowered slowly to his hilt; it was a subtle movement, but one that I caught regardless. A realization dawned on me: I had been so worried about the dangers from the outside, I never considered the dangers from the inside. I remembered my conversation with Lisa from last night, and inched for my blade.

"You know," I said, changing the subject. "Lisa told me you guys have been out of a job for a while. Probably making very little money, huh?"

"Yes, what about it?"

I continued. "I’m the first customer you guys have had in months, and I’m paying quite a large amount. But I’m only one person. I can’t possibly pay as much as an organization— especially one that’s after Lisa and Jack, like the Elise."

He paused, and Lisa took a step back. "What are you talking about, Aria? He’s loyal! He’s been working with us since the beginning!"

"Maybe," I said, taking my eyes off his hand and meeting the Captain’s face. "But money is a convincing tool. And it just so happens you guys have been low—"

I never got to finish. The Captain unsheathed his saber, and in one swift motion stabbed at me. I was prepared for it— I specifically looked away from his waist to bait him into an attack. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if he really was paid off by the Elise or another group, but I was spitballing after his suspicious behavior for the last five minutes.

Especially once he harped on how this other ship was definitely not trouble, when we barely even saw two ships earlier in the day— both of which were heading to port, unlike this one that almost looked like it was following us.

I sidestepped the attack, pulling out my own dagger in an instant. I struck back at the Captain, but he managed to block it. I ignored Lisa’s screams as she fell to the ground in a panic, and swept at the Captain’s feet.

The large man fell, his sword clattering on the ground. I brought my dagger down on him, but he caught my arm mid air. He was strong! He was even stronger than me, and I was pretty strong. It was a contest of strength, and I felt him pushing my arm back up. There was no way I was going to win this fight.

I let go of my dagger.

The gray blade fell straight at his face. He just barely managed to move out of the way, before I kicked him in the groin. The Captain recoiled in pain, grasping at his most vulnerable area as I swiftly picked up my dagger with a flourish and slit his throat.

Always works, I thought, ignoring his last gasps of air before he died.

I turned to Lisa who was on the floor, staring at me wide eyed with her back against the wall.

"I—" she started, but I cut her off.

"I know you didn’t do this. Just steer us out of this fog and away from that other ship!" I pointed back at the direction we came from.

She stopped shaking for a moment, before nodding. She got up as I ran down to the main deck. The other crew men had obviously seen what happened, and they were already swarming Gennady.

"Kill them!" a man yelled, charging at the Dwarf.

Gennady stumbled back in a panic, confused and shocked at the sudden situation he found himself in. I pulled out the gun at my side and fired a few shots at the attacking men, distracting them for just a moment.

It bought enough time for Gennady to pull out a mana tool from his side, and throw it at a group of men, binding them all together in a net made of mana energy. Half of them were caught, but the remaining half continued their rush at him.

I was about to fire another shot when someone dashed at me from the side. He tackled me, knocking me into one of the rooms as the boat rocked from Lisa turning the ship. We rolled on the ground for a moment, as the man tried to grapple with me.

I managed to push him off, grabbing on a table with a mana lamp to pull myself back up. The man pulled out a cudgel as another four men entered the room to support him. My eyes darted between the five of them, as I stood there, waiting.

It looked like the first man was about to charge, when another figure entered. It was Jack, and he looked at the men in anger.

"Oi, what’s going on? Lisa said you guys are trying to mutiny against us for the Elise? What in Hell is that about?" He brandished two short swords as he approached the men.

They hesitated, but three of them charged him anyways. The other two turned around and attacked me, the one with the cudgel striking at my face. I ducked under the attack, slicing up with my dagger at his arms.

He dropped the weapon in pain as his companion tried to grab for me. His hand somehow found my mask, and I panicked. I headbutted the man, almost knocking the mask loose, but managing to keep it on regardless. He tried to reach for me again, but I managed to plunge my dagger deep into his chest.

I didn’t manage to catch a breather as the other man leapt onto me. He managed to push me back, and I knocked the table down to the ground. I fell to the floor, losing grip of my dagger as the man managed to pin me.

Need. To. Use. Magic.

I was in a bad spot, but I couldn’t. Jack was still there, fighting the last of the men that attacked him. Perhaps if I could hold out long enough he could save me. But was that a good idea?

I held his hands back as he tried to strangle me, barely managing to push it aside; we struggled there for a moment, before a glimmer of light caught my eye. I saw the mana lamp rolling on the ground right next to us.

I let go of the man’s arms, letting him grab my neck. I grabbed the mana lamp, and held it up against the man’s face. His eyes widened, but it was too late.

I closed my eyes,as I gripped tightly onto the mana crystal of the lamp. I forced the mana inside of it to flare up—

And it shattered. Shards of mana crystal and glass exploded in all directions. I felt a sharp pain go through my hand and some parts of my arm. There was a scream, and the hands around my neck loosened.

I opened my eyes, looking at the damage I caused by shoving the mana in the basic mana tool. It wasn’t utter destruction. It was almost like if a glass window was impacted by a powerful shockwave and broken into tiny pieces that would cut anyone standing near it.

Some of the shards tore through my enchanted clothes, but barely left a graze on my actual body. The most damage I suffered was on the arm I held the mana lamp with. A large shard was piercing through my palm, with a few more small shards sticking out of my forearms.

And yet, the man suffered far worse than me. He had shards of glass and mana crystal sticking out of his eyes and face. He screamed in pain as he reached to pry them off.

I rammed the palm of my hand into his neck.

A stinging pain ran through my hand as I pulled it back, the large shard now in the man’s neck. I slowly got up, pulling out the healing potion in my belt as Jack killed the last remaining man. I poured a few drops to close the wound just a little bit, careful not to let too much blood leave my system, but not enough to let my flesh grow over the bits of glass and mana crystals sticking out of it.

Jack eyed the wound, and opened his mouth, but I walked past him. "I can deal with it later. We have to help Gennady first."

I stumbled out of the ship as it swayed once again. I looked out into the deck and saw Gennady dispatch the last of the crew outside. He was a good fighter when he had access to all his equipment, which was only proven by how he took out over a dozen men by himself.

I walked up to Gennady with Jack as he turned to me.

"What just happened, Melas? Why did they suddenly attack us?"

I glared at him for his slip up, but didn’t comment on it; I was hoping Jack didn’t hear it, or process that it was actually my real name.

"They were paid off by the Elise," I said, to which Jack audibly gasped.

"What?"

"I said—"

"I know what you said," he spoke over me. "Why would they do that? Why would they work for those bastards!"

I lifted my shoulders up in a shrug. "Money, probably."

"That doesn’t make sense! They— they’ve always been loyal to Lisa and I…"

"It doesn’t matter now." I slowly tore off the shirt from a dead man, and wrapped it around my arm. "We just have to deal with that now."

"With that?" Both Jack and Gennady raised their eyebrows, then turned to the direction I was pointing at.

The ship that was following us was much closer now. Somehow, even with Lisa trying to get us away from them, they managed to catch up. The thick white mist no longer obscured the boat, and I could tell that it was much larger than our ship, and more suited for battle.

I found my eyes sliding away from the main hull up to the black flag flapping at the very top of the ship. It had the symbol of a red whip wrapping around a white Human skull. That’s a pirate ship alright, I thought.

I turned to Jack and Gennady. "Get ready to—"

I saw a flash of light. I raised my hands in a panic, as the beam flew straight at me. A large mana circle formed in the air, creating the translucent shape of my Force Barrier just in time.

The thin blast impacted the barrier, shattering it and knocking me back. I got up and looked at who fired the shot.

"She survived," a woman said, sounding displeased. She stared at me from her ship which was right next to ours now, and shook her head. "You didn’t kill her."

The man holding the rifle lowered it, and he sighed. "That’s because she used magic, Ginah."

I blinked, and I realized my cover had been blown.

Chapter 26: Pirate Attack

"She’s using magic," Ginah said, looking in my direction.

"I know," the man sighed. "I just told you that."

Their ship was now parallel to ours; they had a crew of dozens on deck, all armed and ready with weapons. And yet, I found my attention switching between the dangerous pirates getting ready to attack us, and my own two allies on board our own vessel.

Because I had used magic.

It was a silly thing to worry about, but I felt it was a valid concern. If they found my use of magic to be something so completely heinous that I had no choice but to kill them… Well, I guess learning how to work a ship will be on my to-do list.

The two pirates standing out front continued their chatter. Their conversation was barely audible due to the close proximity they were to us now. The fog did obscure some of their appearance, but I could vaguely tell by their body language that they were ready to fight.

"Think she’s part of the Elise?"

"Probably. It’s a good thing we got here in time. Any later—"

Wait, part of the Elise? I frowned. Why’re they asking that?

I got up, opening my mouth to call out to them, when I saw the man raise his rifle once again. He’s going to shoot me again, isn’t he?

He shot me again.

I erected two Force Barriers this time; I overlaid them one over the other, and it took the powerful blast without shattering. The translucent glass-like protection cracked, with small shards scattering along the hard wooden floor, but it stayed strong. I pointed back at the pirates, releasing a Fireball in their direction.

The large sphere flew across the narrow gap between our ships, looking like it was about to land on where the two main pirates were standing. The woman called Ginah pulled out a hilt from her waist, and a crackling red whip of energy shot out of it. She struck at the Fireball out of the air, and the spell exploded before it even reached the ship.

I paused. "Mana tools can do that?" I asked, turning to Gennady.

"Yes," he said. "They can do just about anything, lass. Didn’t I tell you?"

"Well, that’s—"

The man fired another shot, and this time I jumped out of the way; my Force barrier broke from the impact, letting the beam burrow a hole through the wall on the back side of the ship.

I had just got back to my feet when the first pirate set foot on our deck, getting off the wooden plank they attached to our ship. I drew my dagger, readying spells by my side. I quickly pre-cast the Explosive Orbs by my side, as I shot two Magic Missiles at the pirate.

The pirate rolled out of the way of the attacks, the small explosions going off behind him as he charged me. More pirates were arriving now, and they were rushing me as well. Gennady pulled out his own gun and fired a shot at the first pirate— the pirate managed to block the first with his cutlass, but the second grazed him on the shoulder, knocking him down.

I saw three pirates standing side by side as they made their way towards me. I was not about to set off a Fireball in my own ship; that would probably cause irreparable damage by the time I could put it out. Instead, I pointed at them and a snare shot out. It caught nothing however, as each pirate skillfully evaded the magical bolas.

These guys are good! I watched as Gennady frantically pulled out various mana tools from his bag as more and more pirates surrounded him as well. They were wary of me, and I too was of them.

I glanced back and forth between the pirates surrounding me, with the three glowing orbs still hovering around me. A man took a step forward—

And I sent the Explosive Orbs out in all directions. The pirates were quick, as expected. They leapt out of the way of the blasts, but the Frost Javelin had already finished forming; the layer of fog around us allowed me to cast the spell far faster than I could otherwise have.

The Frost Javelin shot out in an arc, dancing through the air as if it had a mind of its own. And it in a sense, it did. I could not control the exact movements of the projectile, but I was able to somewhat direct it where I wanted it to go.

Got you. It was about to skewer a pirate who was backing as fast as he could, but suddenly the Frost Javelin shattered into a thousand pieces. Icy shards rained down around the pirate, as the man with the rifle, still on his ship, lowered his gun.

"Watch out for the Goblin’s spells," he shouted, gesturing at me. "Those are quite powerful."

I clicked my tongue. He’s annoying. I glanced around the battlefield, surveying the situation. The pirates were good— they were overwhelming Gennady and I, and… Lisa and Jack are still standing there, dumbstruck.

I yelled at them. "Hey guys, a little help here?" I was not sure if they would heed my call to action; they might just let me die now that they know I was a spellcaster.

However, thankfully, Jack finally broke out of his stupor. Was he actually going to help? He took a step forward, leaning out of the ship’s deck in the direction of the pirates, and shouted.

"Oi, Ginah! What in Hell are you doing?"

I stopped. The pirates stopped. Gennady stopped. Lisa’s gaze snapped to her partner. He continued.

"You’re attacking our clients, you dumb bitch—"

"Language, Jack," the man with the rifle said, before he lowered his weapon. "And what do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you guys will get our pay docked! I’m not going to call you nice things for that!" Jack snapped, pointing his short sword at the man then at the woman.

The woman, Ginah, paused. "These are your clients?" she asked, glancing over at myself and Gennady.

"Yes!" Jack, Gennady, and myself screamed.

"Huh." Ginah looked at us once over. "Well, what about your dead crew?"

"They attacked us," I explained. "I think someone paid them off— probably the Elise."

"Oh, so I’m not mistaken about that then." She nodded. "Then I guess you guys better come over to our ship."

Lisa hurried down from quarterdeck, finally joining us as we stood amongst the pirates. I still stood on my guard since we were surrounded, but it seemed like the misunderstanding had been resolved for now.

"Why’s that? What’s going on Ginah?" Lisa asked. "Why are you guys here? We thought you left Luke once the Elise chased you out."

"Well, we did. But we decided to come back because we don’t like those bastards. And we’ve been messing with them for the last few weeks, and were tailing a few of their ships just earlier, until we realized they were tailing you. So we can over here to warn you when we saw the fighting and thought we were too late."

I wanted to comment on the sheer absurdity of this casual conversation happening across ships, but what Ginah said took precedence over that.

"...a few ships are tailing us?"

"Yes," she said casually, gesturing vaguely in the direction we had come from. "They’re quite a ways back. But they should be catching up soon—"

And as if those words were some kind of a trigger, I saw the first shadow of a boat emerge from the thick, white fog. I recognized it immediately. It was a large ship, moving at an incredibly fast speed for its size— because it was powered by mana. It was The Lightbringer’s Vessel, and it was followed by two other ships at its rear.

I saw the nebulous figures of men standing on the deck of the large ship, with some of them pointing frantically at us. A figure fell as the man standing next to Ginah took aim and fired a shot at them.

"Let’s go!" he yelled, gesturing us over.

"What is going on?" Gennady asked, looking around confused.

"I have no idea," I said, looking between the pirate’s and the oncoming ships. "But they better explain later."

Because if we somehow got ourselves wrapped up in an entire ordeal, I would be so annoyed.

We boarded the pirate ship captained by the woman named Ginah, and fled from the three pursuing ships. The Lightbringer’s Vessel was fast, but it did not stray too far from its two escorts for whatever reason. Probably because unlike the other two, it had little in terms of firepower or combat potential. And with the cover of the fog and night, we managed to lose them after an hour.

It was only when I was sure we were safe, did I even sheathe my dagger. I had already healed up, and removed the bandages on my arm at that point, so I was less worried about getting into a fight. I was still cautious, of course; these pirates were skilled fighters as evident from our brief incursion against them, but with Gennady by my side and with both of us prepared, I felt like we might have been able to take them on— at least, until we could somehow escape.

"So," I said, stopping in front of Lisa and Ginah as the two women were in the middle of a discussion. "What’s happening?"

"Aria," Lisa started, then she paused. She looked over to Ginah for a moment, then she folded her arms. "First, you have to tell me what was that? That was… magic?"

"Yes." I nodded curtly. "It was." I didn’t clarify anything, and just stood there.

Ginah placed her hands on her hip as she turned to address me. She was dressed in nothing more than a pair of ripped pants and a tube top, with a blue coat hanging loosely around her shoulders. "You’re not part of the Dark Crusaders are you?"

I studied the expression of the two women, and saw they were scrutinizing me as well; I took a deep breath, remembering their reaction to my use of magic at the start of the battle, and decided to answer honestly rather than giving some indefinite response.

"I’m not," I said.

"Good." Ginah seemed satisfied with that. She turned to Lisa and inclined her head in my direction. "Seems like she really did save your asses, huh?"

The other woman sighed. "She did." Then she turned to me. "Thank you, Aria."

"So what’s going on?" I asked, ignoring their gratitude; those could be exchanged later. "What’s this about the Elise chasing after you guys?" I pointed first at Lisa, then at Jack who was grumbling off to the side by himself.

Lisa hesitated. "I… don’t know," she finally said. "I had no idea this would happen. I didn’t think they would try to force us into submission, after having done nothing but put some light pressure on us for so long."

"So those guys were after you?"

"Yes." She nodded.

I tapped a finger on my mask before turning to Ginah. "And how about you guys? You’re pirates, right?"

The pirate Captain shot me a grin and jerked a thumb at herself. "We are indeed."

"What’s this have anything to do with you guys?"

She shook her head. "You don’t know anything about the Elise, do you?"

"No," Gennady piped up. "We just got to the city."

I nodded my head in agreement with the Dwarf, and looked up expectantly at Ginah. "So… are you going to tell us?"

"I can tell you what’s wrong with them," a voice came from the side. Jack strutted up to us, his hands hidden in his pockets, with a clear scowl on his face. "They’re an organization of the most villainous scum in all of Luke. They came and took the underground by storm, and would crush anyone who doesn’t join them so completely and utterly that everyone quickly began to fear them."

"What’s wrong with that?" I raised an eyebrow.

Everyone turned to stare at me, giving me a look, and I shrugged.

"What? Aren’t you all criminals here?"

"Yes," Ginah said. "But that doesn’t make us monsters. We support those who help us, and allow those who don’t to go about their business. Only when they’re our enemies do we even consider such drastic courses of action."

Jack voiced his agreement. "And they are ruthless. They don’t care if you’re in the business to support your family. They will force you to do jobs you wouldn’t want to do for them."

"I see." I listened as Ginah continued to explain.

"Their leader— a Half Elf named Bahr— is also said to be capable of magic. We think he might be from the Dark Crusaders. That’s why he was able to bring the group into prominence so quickly— he had their funding and their connections to help him get to where he is now."

"So what?" I asked, frowning. "You don’t like that the Dark Crusaders are crossing into your territory to spread their influence or something?"

"No." She exhaled deeply and turned to Lisa. "What’s with this girl? We just explained it to her. She daft or something?"

Lisa smiled meekly and tried to calm down the pirate. "She’s just… an odd one."

I drew my lips into a thin line at their casual remarks about me in front of me. I’m completely normal! I wanted to argue, but then I remembered the time I tried to convince a rapist to stop what he was doing. Yeah… they’re probably right.

"Listen," I said, speaking over everyone else. "I don’t care about this Elise, and I don’t care about what they’re doing. I just want to get to the Taw Kingdom like I paid Lisa and Jack to do."

Ginah snorted. "Good luck with that. If you haven’t noticed, their ship is gone and their crew is dead."

"But I paid them!" I protested.

"Tough luck. But that’s not happening anymore."

I glanced over at Lisa and Jack and got an apologetic smile and a grunt in response. I turned to Ginah.

"You guys have a working ship— Gennady and I can pay you what we offered them to bring us to Taw. Or at least to a port outside of Luke."

"Not happening," she said simply.

"Why?" I asked, annoyed at this development.

"Because we came back to Luke for a reason, girl. We don’t like how the Elise is exploiting the people of the city. We tried to oppose them, but they chased us out. But we aren’t going to run anymore. We are pirates, but we aren’t evil. The way they do things— we can’t allow it."

I felt my irritation rising, but Gennady placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me. "Let me talk for a moment," he said, and I allowed him.

Jack glared at the Dwarf as he stepped forward, but did not say anything otherwise.

"So, you lot are trying to oppose this group… how?"

"We disrupt their business. Hit key locations to cut off their supply or drugs. Especially the enuim. That will ruin them for quite a bit and get their allies to leave them."

"The enuim." Gennady furrowed his brows. "They sell it?"

"Yes," Jack answered the Dwarf almost begrudgingly. "They don’t just sell it— that’s their main product which they’ve gotten every other person in the city addicted to in less than a year."

"That’s… terrible."

I eyed the look on everyone’s faces, then slowly raised a hand.

"What’s this ‘enuim’?" I asked.

Ginah faced me, and cocked a brow. "You don’t even know what that is? Are you actually a little girl and not a Goblin or something?"

I ignored that comment, and looked at Gennady as he tried to explain.

"The enuim is a terrible drug that doesn’t just get you addicted to it, it also makes anyone on it more… amenable. If you get someone high on the enuim before trying to get them to sign a deal or do… something for them… they’ll be more inclined to do it." His brows arched darkly over his forehead as his implication sank in.

"That’s… not good," I pointed out the obvious.

"It isn’t. And the worst part is? It’s not natural," he said. "It was developed in the Holy Xan Empire by a group of corrupt Alchemists. They prescribed it as a medicine to the Noxeus to some noble families for their own advantage— to scam them of their gold. This went on for almost a year before they were caught. They were all executed for their crimes, of course. But at that point, the recipe had already been shared with criminal groups throughout the continent. It’s a problem in Soli, and hadn’t been an issue here in Vitae… until now."

"You know, I don’t—" Ginah started, but Gennady quickly cut her off and held my gaze.

"Melas," he said my real name once again, and this time, Lisa and Jack heard it. "I know you think money solves everything. That gold is enough to persuade someone to help you."

"I don’t think that. I think it just increases your chances."

"Same difference." He shook his head. "However, there’s something else that works even better than that, and that’s favors. Giving people a reason to trust you, so they would help you back. I have seen what you can do— what you’re capable of doing for others— and I trust you, that’s why I offered to accompany you to Taw. But these people barely know you. They have no reason to bring you to Jahar’taw, even if you pay them."

"What are you suggesting?" I asked, although I already knew what he was going to say.

"We help them out," he answered simply. He turned to the pirate Captain and two smugglers, and nodded. "If we help you guys out, will ya bring us to Taw?"

"You’re offering to help us?" Ginah asked.

"Well, it entirely depends on what my friend here has to say."

All eyes turned to me and awaited my response. I answered without hesitation.

"We’ll help you."

Ginah blinked. "That was a quick reply."

I walked forward, and met the look of everyone standing there.

"If I had known about this enuim drug, I would’ve offered this in the first place. I didn’t, so I saw no reason to get involved. But if innocent people are getting hurt and I know about it and can do something about it— I’ll help where I can. I can’t save everyone, but I definitely can contribute something, can’t I?"

Plus, I had something to gain from this deal; it was practical as well as good for my conscience. I was not a hero, but even an average person would jump in to help if they saw another man choking in the streets.

"Huh." Ginah studied my face for a moment. "Perhaps I misjudged you."

"But"— I raised a finger— "we won’t do anything beyond stopping the diffusion of these drugs. If you try to make us get involved in some petty underground politics unrelated to that, we won’t participate."

"Of course." She grinned, throwing me a thumbs up. "And we’ll find you a way to get to… uh, where did you want to go again?"

"Jahar’taw."

"Right." She turned to a man in the distance and called him over. "Yo, Kai, get over here. We need you to figure out how to get these two to Jahar-thingy after they help us. Think you can do that?"

The man— the one who shot me with the rifle— came at her behest and nodded. "That won’t be too difficult," he said, then he turned to face us. "They’re helping us deal with the Elise?"

"Yes." Ginah nodded, a savage grin spreading across her face. "They’ll help us bring them down."

I quickly clarified. "Only where it involves innocent people, and we won’t stick around beyond that."

"Right, right."

Chapter 27: Hidden Lair

The group of pirates Gennady and I had found ourselves working with were called Ginah’s Crew; they were notorious as some of the best, and most merciful, pirates prior to the arrival of the Elise in Luke. Lisa explained to me how they would often specifically target only large merchant vessels, choosing to spare the crew and guards— although it was difficult to keep the latter alive when they fought back.

Still, I was not wholly buying into the idea of this ‘noble’ pirate group. I thought the Dark Crusaders were good— and perhaps most of them like Gerritt and Karna were such— but the fact of the matter was that their leadership was content with allowing callous, evil individuals run amok as long as they were useful to them. Perhaps this situation was different: with a significantly smaller group, it was far easier to control each and every member of a pirate ship, unlike the massive organization that was the Dark Crusaders.

Yet, I still made sure to keep an eye out for any such signs that indicated if anyone in Ginah’s Crew was not who I thought they were. And this time, I was not the same affection-starved, traumatized, and manipulated girl I had been after I just met Victor, who was blinded by the fact that him saving my life must have meant he was any way redeemable.

I eyed the pirates warily, standing off in my own corner of the ship as we reached their hideout. It was a cave hidden behind a beach, with rocks protruding out of the water, making it difficult to navigate into the pirate lair.

Gennady had gone to bed early: apparently getting ambushed by both our own crew, then pirates, then three different ships was pretty exhausting. I stayed awake, simply because I wanted one of us to be up, keeping watch for each other, whenever possible. I was aware that doing that for however long we were stuck helping Ginah’s Crew was literally impossible, but we could at least maintain some level of caution when dealing with them.

Unfortunately, it seemed like these pirates did not feel the same way about us, as a man casually approached me.

"Yo, little Miss." He waved a hand, striding up to me and flashing a grin. "That was quite the tough fight you guys put up, huh? Your Dwarf friend nicked me in the shoulder. Could’ve killed me."

I took one look at him and recognized him as the first pirate who boarded our ship— the one that nimbly avoided my volley of spells. He wore a simple beige colored pants that was rolled up to his knees, but he was not wearing any shirt, showing off his chiseled abdominal muscles and broad chest for all to see. I glanced past the large scar on the right side of his chest, and met his gaze.

I shrugged. "You guys attacked us first. Your friend would’ve killed me if I didn’t have a fast enough reaction time."

"That’s true," he said, nodding sagely. Then he put out a hand and I eyed it. "But the misunderstanding has been resolved! So it’s good to meet you, Melas— the name’s Braz."

I scowled, remembering that Gennady revealed my real name to not only Lisa and Jack, but this crew of pirates we had just met as well. Nodding curtly, I slowly shook his hand.

"So," I started, not wasting any time with small talk, "what do you want?"

"What do I want?" he asked, blinking. "Well, I’m just here to chat with you. Get to know our new ally!"

"I’m not your ally," I said simply. "I’m helping you cripple the Elise’s supply of enuim, and that’s it. Then you guys will have to help bring me to Jahar’taw one way or another."

He winked at me. "Exactly what I said: allies."

I sighed, shaking my head.

"And this is your guys’ hideout?"

"It’s our secret base," he agreed, looking over at the cave as we slowly made our way to it past some dangerous looking rocks. "We’ve been here for a month now. Kai found it for us when we decided to come back to fight the Elise."

"And Kai is your quartermaster?"

"He is one of the damned best ones there is!"

"Right," I said, staring past Braz, at the man standing next to Ginah. He had a rifle slung around his shoulder, and unlike the regular mana guns I had seen which typically had a mana crystal and no ammunition, his rifle had had a magazine to insert bullets into. It was almost like Felix’s revolver, except I was pretty sure Kai’s rifle was less deadly but had a longer range.

It was a hunch— not confirmed. But seeing Felix fire shots that bore through concrete like it was nothing, I was pretty sure I would have still died even if I had three or four Force Barriers protecting me.

"What happens now?" I asked, as the ship finally circumvented the rocks in our path, and entered the dark overhang that was the entrance to the cave.

"What do you mean?" Braz cocked a brow.

"We’re supposed to take out this Elise, aren’t we? How do we go about doing that?"

The man— I just noticed that he was probably in his 30’s, despite his youthful personality— leaned his back on the edge of the boat, shrugging. "Don’t know. But I’ll do whatever Ginah tells me to do."

"You mean your Captain hasn’t told you any of her plans?" I glanced between him and Ginah who was still standing off in the distance. Kai had broken off from talking to her, and was heading below deck to do whatever a quartermaster was supposed to do.

"Yes!" Braz said, almost over eagerly. "She hasn’t led us astray so far, and she took us all in even though most of us have been misfits all our lives. Especially me! And she made us better men than we were before!"

I tilted my head to the side. "Aren’t you guys… pirates?"

He raised a finger, still grinning. "That’s why I said ‘than we were before’."

I looked at the man for a moment, as he held that pose. Eventually, I decided to let the issue drop, and ask the more important question.

"What exactly did you do before—"

I was interrupted by a cheer. We had finally entered the dimly lit cavern, and our ship finally came to a stop at a beach of glittering white sand. A few dozen more pirates were waiting at the beach for us, and they threw their hands up in the air and they whooped and hollered as Ginah addressed them.

"We’re back, boys! And we’ve got Jack and Lisa with us now!" Ginah loudly exclaimed. Then she cast a sidelong glance at me for a moment, before adding, "And we’ve got others too to help us bring down the Elise. So we celebrate tonight!"

I stared down at the very many cheering faces standing at the beach, before looking over at the other two larger ships also anchored next to us. I frowned.

"Who are these guys?"

"Them?" Braz turned to face me. "They’re the rest of our crew."

"...wait what?"

As it turned out, Ginah’s Crew was not just the small ship of pirates I had assumed they were. They were almost four times as big as I initially thought they were, which in retrospect, was a foolish thought.

They were pulling hit and run tactics against the Elise, which meant they would only bring a select few trustworthy elites with them, which explained how good of a fighter each of the pirates seemed to be. And considering that they were preparing to assail The Lightbringer’s Vessel— a mana powered ship— before they realized it was tailing us, it only made sense that they took a smaller, faster boat to keep up with it.

I carefully walked down the gangplank as Gennady, Lisa, and Jack followed behind me. There was, of course, cheering as we came down— as the pirates welcomed us ‘new allies’ into their ranks. Apparently, the Elise was really disliked around here, and anyone joining their fight against the criminal organization was accepted with open arms, a slap on the back, and a drink on them.

Gennady, who had just woken up from a nap, wasted no time before he was downing some ale and mingling with our new acquaintances.

The party hadn’t started yet.

I followed Ginah as she led us to some hastily set up structures that were supposed to be where I was going to be sleeping in. We walked in silence, as my first interaction with the pirate Captain did not exactly leave a good impression on her, even if she had changed her mind slightly since then.

Finally, I decided to break the silence.

"How long have you been a… pirate?" I asked.

"About five years," she said, continuing past a group of her crew calling out to her. She grinned and waved back, but otherwise did not say anything.

"And why did you become a pirate?"

"Is this an interrogation or something?" Ginah sighed, shaking her head.

"I’m just curious." I folded my arms, as we finally came to a stop at a small wooden building. "I’ve been told that you’re considered a ‘good’ pirate, but I’d like to know what made you become a pirate in the first place, since it’s not the most noble of jobs."

She paused, looking me over for a moment. She rubbed her temples as she answered.

"The world is not so simple, Melas. And especially not in Laxis." That was all she said. "Go on. This is where you’ll be staying."

I looked at the small house that was built like a small dormitory, before realizing that it was a shared sleeping quarters. And a large one at that.

"Don’t worry," Ginah reassured me. "Only women and children will be sleeping here… you’re a girl, right?"

I nodded hesitantly in response. Then she relaxed.

"Good. Just wanted to make sure since you’re hiding behind a mask and all."

"How am I supposed to maintain my privacy if I’m sleeping with others?" I ask, drawing my lips into a thin line.

"The answer’s simple: you don’t. Sorry, can’t do anything about it. Not unless you decide to build yourself your own room."

"But—"

"Listen," Ginah cut me off. "We’re low on supplies and on manpower, compared to the Elise. This isn’t the most luxurious lodgings, but you’ll have to make do if you really are willing to work with us."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Compromises require both sides to make concessions, not just me," I stated flatly.

She halted midtep— she was already about to leave, but my words made her turn around and stay for a moment longer.

"I am aware," she said.

"Then what do I gain out of this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Other than giving up my privacy and identity to a bunch of strangers, of course."

"We’re giving you a place to stay."

"No." I met her gaze. Her brown eyes flickered for a moment, as I continued. "You providing me with living arrangements is to be expected, since I am offering to help you now. Your payment to me comes later— after the job is finished. Until then, I should be given some sort of accommodation beyond the bare minimum, no?"

She hesitated, and I finally realized something: before, I had assumed Ginah to be some sort of boisterous, inspiring pirate Captain. But now that I finally had a good look at her and it was just the two of us, I realized that she was a lot more hesitant in her dealings with me. She almost looked… stressed. Overburdened by work.

And yet, I put my foot down.

"What do you suggest then?" she asked, gritting her teeth.

I raised a finger, pointing past her. "There," I said simply.

Ginah followed it, and blinked. "You want to sleep on the ship?"

"Yes. I want my own room." I stepped past her, jerking my head in the direction of the small vessel we arrived in. "A proper room. I don’t care where, as long as I don’t have to sleep with a dozen other people I’ve never met."

"I…" she trailed off.

"I’m sure you can get someone to sleep in one of these shared spaces."

"Fine," she said, voice hiding none of her irritation. "I think I’ve changed my mind about you again. You’re… troublesome."

I did not respond. Instead, I followed her as she brought me back onto the ship. After speaking with a crewmember, I soon found myself in my own private quarters. There was still some swaying, as part of the boat was still in the water, but it was unnoticeable. Or I was getting used to it.

"Here you go. Your own room." Ginah was not enthused, but I was.

"Thanks." I bowed my head slightly; I was grateful for it, although I found the fact that I had to push to get it slightly grating on my nerves.

She grunted in affirmation as she was about to leave, but I called out to her just before she shut the door.

"And about my, uh…"

The pirate Captain rolled her eyes. "Yes, your ‘abilities’. I’ll keep it a secret. Not that I was intending to spread it around. I had already told my men to keep a lid on it."

"Right," I said, as she looked at me.

"Is that all? Did you need anything else? Must I fetch you dinner too?" she asked, not sarcastically at all.

"No. I’m good."

"Great." And with that, Ginah left the room.

I slowly settled into the room; it was not the biggest room, considering I was lodging in the smallest ship, but it was good enough for me. The bed was not even a proper mattress, but a thick piece of cloth tied between two sides of the room like a hammock, and there was not even a desk. Still, I had slept in even worse conditions when I was a slave.

I put down my bag, and sat on the bed-hammock for a moment. I glanced up the porthole, into the sandy beach with tables being set up for some sort of party. Contrary to what I had seen written on Ginah’s face, it seemed that morale here was high. Which made no sense— they were going up against a group that supposedly took over all of Luke’s underground in a year and chased them out. Their chances of success probably weren't too high.

But I was here now. And while I was not interested in completely destroying this organization, I did not like what they were doing with the enuim. If this drug was really able to make people… more agreeable… I could see a thousand different terrible uses for it, and not a single good one.

And I did not like what I was imagining.

I stood up, strutting over to my bag after deciding to study to get my mind off any unpleasant thoughts; I was rummaging through my bag, about to pull out the sheets of paper to practice drawing the runes when I paused.

I pulled out The Thauma. One of the first books I was given to learn magic from. It was then I realized I hadn’t been practicing my magic at all since I started tinkering under Gennady. Spellcasting was almost second nature to me, due to the circumstances that resulted in me ending up in this world, but I had been neglecting it.

I was still able to fight well using magic, as seen from the brief scuffle I had with the pirates, but I was not happy with my performance. If I continued practicing magic I could’ve… I shook my head. That wouldn’t have helped much, since I had no more grimoires to learn from. Or maybe not.

I carefully flipped through The Thauma, recalling that it was more than just a book schooling me how to spellcast. I had learned all the most advanced spells in it— Magic Missile, Explosive Orbs, Dispel Magic, Force Bindings, Force Barrier— although these were considered intermediate level spells and not truly powerful ones. It was supposed to be an introductory book, after all.

And yet, something about the book stood out beyond the rest: it was written during a time when magic had not been so rigorously studied by spellcasters. The Demon Lord himself wrote The Thauma almost four thousand years ago. And while these spells were not advanced ones of the current time period, they were some of the more powerful ones back when it was written.

With the instructions on how to learn them, the Demon Lord also offered advice— how to create spells. Or at least, how to experiment with the current spells in a spellcasters repertoire, to possibly upgrade it or even mix spells together to achieve a different effect.

The ideas presented in The Thauma were incredibly abstract— more so than the almost-scientific tomes of recent centuries— which not only dissuaded me from meddling with it beyond the spells it taught, but also made me wary of how things could go wrong. I did not want a spell to blow up in my face, especially not when I was in some random inn.

It was dangerous in both exposing me as a ‘heretic’, as well dangerous in that it could kill me. And although simply reading what was said in the grimoire was obviously not dangerous, I carefully turned the pages of it, treating it as though it were.

I found myself looking at the last chapter of The Thauma; it had some concluding words by the Demon Lord, trying to explain the benefits of learning magic and how knowing such spells would be helpful for all species’. Clearly, his words were not very compelling.

I ignored all that, and slowly read through the important bits— the ones which dealt with going beyond with one’s spellcasting. My understanding of what was being said was nebulous at best, but if I were reading it correctly, spells were often derivative of one another. A spell could very rarely be made from nothing, and typically had to be built off the understanding of something else.

One way which this was exemplified was in how I learned Magic Bolt: I was in the middle of what I now realize was a panic attack, and was afraid of the incoming Abominations that I somehow emulated the feeling of firing a pistol and manifested it as a spell instead.

And while I might not have used a wide variety of mana tools, there was something I had done once or twice that seemed like it would be pretty effective in a fight. It was a tactic I had just used again recently, after nearly losing my life after doing it the first time— destabilizing a mana crystal.

It was dangerous. Probably would take a while to learn for me to do it safely. But it had to have worked. I knew it had to.

Magic was simply the manipulation of mana in the world around you, whereas using mana tools was pushing and pulling the mana inside of a mana crystal. If the solid form of pure mana could somehow achieve such raw destructive power by itself, would it not make sense for the mana in around me to be able to do so too?

I pulled out the Lesser mana crystal I had bought and held it in the palm of my hands. I inspected it for a second before shaking my head. Nope, I thought. Too dangerous.

I needed something that was weaker. A small Inferior mana crystal. I wanted to experiment with the feeling of pushing the mana in it to the brink of exploding, but not exactly just there yet.

I got up and pocketed my mana crystal and headed out of my room; I made sure to keep all my belongings safely hidden of course. I kept only the important things with me.

I once again went down the gangplank of the ship and trudged through the soft sand floor of the beach. I walked past all the festivities— people were drinking and socializing, enjoying each other's company— I paused as I saw Braz already passed out at the bench of a table. How long have I been reading?

I thought I was in my room for no more than an hour, but it seemed that I might’ve lost track of time. I shook my head, and continued searching for Gennady. He had to have at least one or two Inferior mana crystals he could spare me.

I could have broken off a small shard from my Inferior mana crystal, but I did not want to damage it.

I found Gennady drunk, and laughing with a group of pirates.

"Ah, Melas!" he cheerfully greeted me. "Glad you’re here, lass. Want a drink?"

"No thanks," I politely turned him down. "I was just wondering if you have any spare Inferior mana crystals I could borrow?"

"Inferior mana crystals?" He furrowed his brows. "Now why would you want those? Aren’t ya past the point of making simple everyday tools?"

"I am," I said. "But I need those for… something else."

"Well if you do insist, you can just go grab some from my bike. There’s a few in the compartments on the side." He waved a hand in the direction of the ship.

I nodded my head and was about to turn around before I paused. "Your bike?"

"Ye, lass. Just make sure not to touch the things in me bag."

Gennady didn’t seem to realize it, and I hesitated for a moment. I pursed my lips for a moment, considering where to say it.

"What’s wrong?" The Dwarf cocked his head. He still seemed rather jovial, and I did not want to ruin his mood. However, I had no choice: I had to tell him.

"Gennady," I started, ignoring the stares from the pirates seated around him, "about your bike…"

He took a swig of ale, and slammed the cup down. He wiped some of the foam off his beard as he frowned. "Out with it, lass? What’s wrong?"

I sighed. "Your bike is gone."

"What?"

There was a look of bewilderment— as if what I just told him made no sense. And perhaps it didn’t. Even if he was sober, he might not have understood immediately. However, I realized the problem in our rushed departure due to our flight.

"We left it," I said, not meeting his eyes. "Back at Lisa and Jack’s ship. We didn’t bring it with us when we left their ship."

Gennady’s eyes widened as it finally settled in.

"M-my bike…" he trailed off.

"I’m sorry." I meekly met his gaze, but he turned away.

I thought the Dwarf would be mad. I thought he would be upset and maybe blame me for dragging him into this. He never would’ve left for Jahar’taw if not for me, after all, right? But he didn’t. Instead, he called over a lady who was serving drinks to the table.

"Give me your best drink, lassie. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping tonight."

I felt bad for him, and wanted to say something, but it did not seem like now was the time. I had already apologized, but it did not feel like it was enough. I was just about to leave before Gennady stopped me.

"It’s not your fault," he said softly.

I stared at Gennady for a moment. He continued.

"Don’t blame yourself. I came with you out of my own accord."

I wanted to protest— but I caught myself. Neither of us would feel better that way; instead, I just tried to give him my best smile.

"Hey, maybe I could make you another one if I get good enough with tinkering."

He snorted. "No way that’ll happen. I doubt you’ll ever be able to understand how steam engines work. Just work on what you’re doing, and don’t spread out your skills too much.

"And don’t worry," he added, "we’ll get back at those pirates. Damned speciesist pricks."

"Right," I said, nodding.

Then he went back to his drink and I left him there. I was just about to return to the ship— go back to my room and just rest— when a young man stopped me.

"Hey, I heard you were looking for Inferiors."

"I am," I answered curtly. "Why?"

"Well," he said, reaching to his side and pulling out a gleaming mana crystal before handing it to me. "I just so happened to have some which I didn’t need. So you can have it."

I blinked. "Wait, I can’t accept this—"

"It’s fine." The young man grinned. "Ginah told us you and Mr Gennady are here to help us. So we might as well help you back where we can, right?"

I slowly reached over and grabbed it. "...thank you."

"It’s not a problem." He shot me a thumbs up.

I was just about to ask him for his name when he ran off, going over to Gennady; he began talking to the Dwarf, striking up a conversation with him. Then I realized, others were doing the same. They were trying to cheer him up— regale him by getting him to talk about other topics.

Should I also…? I shook my head. I did not want to drink, and I absolutely did not want to accidentally reveal any of my secrets by accident.

The fact that the people here were friendly, and were willing to help lighten Gennady’s mood was good. I could let them do that without feeling bad. However, I had to do what was important for me— and by extension, them.

If I could better my magic, I would be able to aid them better, no? So instead, I grasped the small Inferior mana crystal in between my fingers, and returned to my room.

Chapter 28: Interrogation

I felt the mana in the mana crystal flare up; I was forcing my will onto it— trying to drain it of all its mana at once. That would destabilize it, creating a violent dispersion of energy. It would not always result in an explosion, depending on the density of the mana inside of it.

I was not trying to force such a result regardless. My control over the mana crystal kept it teetering at the edge of destabilization, but not enough for it to fully shatter into tiny little shards. I just had to hold that feeling.

I raised my other hand, and I closed my eyes. I never once let go of the mana crystal, still maintaining the same amount of control over it; I copied over that feeling into my free hand, applying the same amount of pressure on the mana in the air.

A small green magic circle took shape, the air flickering where it formed. I watched the symbols and lines within its perimeter slowly begin to intersect, as I tried to emulate what I felt over the mana crystal.

The air around the spell circle grew visible to the naked eye, slowly coming together into the nebulous shape of a ball. It looked small enough that if I held it, I could completely wrap my fingers around it, but there was a constant rippling to it that made that seem like a bad idea.

I took a deep breath, and putting down the mana crystal, I exhaled. I shoved the rest of the mana in the air, forcing a rapid release. The compressed air… did not burst out into all directions, but instead fizzled out— almost like a spark being snuffed out.

Shaking my head, I put down the Inferior mana crystal and reached for my forehead. My head spun as the world around me turned to a blur, but after massaging my temples for a minute or two, my vision returned to normal.

I was tired.

After having spent a few hours last night doing the exact same thing before retiring to bed, I slept for a total of three hours before waking back up. I was… wary.

It was not easy to rest peacefully when I still wasn’t entirely certain whether I trusted these pirates or not. At the end of the day, they were criminals— very morally dubious. Sure, I was technically a criminal myself since I violated Holy Law every time I cast a spell. But the last time I gave my complete trust without any questions to a group of lawbreakers, I was… betrayed.

Or perhaps I betrayed them. Whatever it was, things did not exactly go so well, which meant I should at least be a little cautious when dealing with these pirates.

So I slept little, but I knew I couldn’t do that all the time. You did not go up against a large criminal organization and win overnight: my trip to Jahar’taw was ostensibly delayed for the foreseeable future. I was not sure how long I would be working with Ginah’s Crew, but I would prefer if I received my end of the deal before the end of the year. And considering that it was only Summer, I was not sure if that was a realistic goal.

I was in no rush; I had plenty of time to spare. My preferences however, pushed me to act sooner rather than later. I wasn’t going to wait around to be surprised by something I could have easily found out if I spent a few days or weeks prying around. Plus, I needed a break from practicing both my tinkering and my spellcasting.

I got out of bed and exited my room. The boat I was sleeping in was not fully beached onto the shore, and I still felt a slight swaying whenever I took a step. It was subtle, barely even noticeable, but still noticeable.

The wooden floors of the stairway creaked as I made my way up onto deck, before descending down the gangplank and onto the soft, white sand. I glanced about at the remains of the party that had been thrown— eyeing the few dozen drunken men and women passed out on the tables and chairs they had set out.

Whoever that’s going to clean that up is going to have a bad time, I thought. I had been to a number of parties before back on Earth, but apparently teenagers and young adults there were not nearly as rambunctious as fully grown adults here were.

I paused for a moment, trying to see if Gennady was in the pile of unconscious bodies, and was glad to see that he wasn’t. I hoped he managed to cheer up at least slightly after last night. It was not fun being the bearer of bad news, and it was even less fun to be incapable of doing anything to make the recipient feel better.

I started in the direction of the crude wooden structures in the corner of the cave. After seeing me to my room, Ginah brought Lisa and Jack to theirs too. I did not know exactly where they were, but I assumed they were sleeping in the same dormitory area that I was shown to yesterday.

I started in that direction, when I caught a glimpse of a light stirring. Braz pushed himself to his feet from lying face first in the sand, and wiped at his face.

"G’morning," he said, yawning without covering his mouth. He blinked a few times, looking out the mouth of the cave. "Phew, it’s early. What time is it?"

"I don’t know," I replied honestly. "I don’t have a clock or a watch."

He nodded his head wisely a few times. Or at least, he probably thought he did. "Well, you should get one! It’s important to know the time if you want to be punctual."

I ignored his unsolicited advice, and cocked my head at him. "Didn’t you drink a lot last night? Don’t you have a hangover or something?"

"Oh I do." He gave me a carefree grin and spoke in a tone that betrayed his next few words. "It’s absolutely terrible. I feel like my head’s about to explode!"

"I’m sure there’s a potion or medicine for that."

"There is," he said, finally standing up and dusting himself off of sand. "But we don’t own any. We’d be broke if we had to keep a constant supply of those."

I raised my shoulders in a shrug. "Why do you guys have to throw parties?"

Braz paused, as if he was seriously considering my rhetorical question. Then he brought a hand up to his chin, and scratched it uncertainly. "...morale?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I don’t actually care. You guys can spend your resources however you want, as long as we put a stop to this enuim trade and you guys keep your end of the deal."

"Hey!" Braz shot a hand up, and patted me on the head. "Don’t worry, we aren’t liars."

I just gave him a blank look. "That’s what a liar would say."

"Well, maybe," he said, not losing any of his cheerful demeanour. "Guess you’ll just have to trust us."

"Mhm," I gave him a noncommittal sound in response. Then I turned towards the wooden buildings in the near distance. "Where’s Lisa? Or Jack?"

"Dunno about Jack." Braz scratched the back of his head. "He wasn’t at the party last night, but Lisa was there briefly. Saw her retire to those rooms over there."

"Thanks." I quickly bowed my head and started in the direction he pointed.

I wanted to speak with Lisa; after all the chaos that happened yesterday, we didn’t have time to discuss our agreement. I wanted my gold back, of course. And I was sure Gennady would prefer to have it back too after he lost his bike— I hoped it would have been somewhat of a consolation to know he could keep his gold to buy the parts to make another one.

I pushed the door of the first building so that it was open slightly ajar, and peered in. I saw about a dozen women sleeping in a line, but could not pick out Lisa from among them. There were a few kids— only two, and they were young. Less than half my age in this world. I furrowed my brows as I considered the danger these kids' parents were putting them in by bringing them in a fight against the Elise.

I shook my head and walked to the next building. I was just about to step in when the door opened up. I blinked as Lisa glanced down at me, and cocked her head.

"Oh, Ari— I mean Melas. What are you doing here?" she asked.

I paused only for a moment, still unused to being called by my real name, but managed to snap myself back to reality quickly enough. "Lisa," I said, gesturing away from the building, "can we talk?"

"Sure, uh, just give me a minute. I’m going to freshen up, ok?"

I nodded, and pointed back at the ship. "Could you meet me in my room?"

"Of course!" The young woman headed to a makeshift bath as I returned to the boat.

More people were waking up now, and it was starting to get a little crowded; I did not plan to do anything against Ginah’s Crew, but I wanted to fish for more information as well as covertly get back my gold. That meant I had to do it in private rather than in public.

I waited for a while in my room, just sitting in my bed. Eventually, I heard a knock and a voice called in.

"Hello?"

"Come in," I said, standing up.

Lisa entered, dressed in a plaid shirt and pants, looking very different from the robed young woman I had gotten used to seeing for the past few days. She smiled her usual smile as she approached me.

"Did you need something?"

"Yes." I nodded my head and put a hand out. "My gold. I want it back."

She immediately froze; the smile on her face slipped as she took a step back, and twiddling her thumbs, she spoke out slowly. "Y-your gold? Come on now, Melas. Jack and I lost our ship and our crew. We don’t really have anything left."

I just stood there, arm still outstretched. I continued staring into the young woman until she heaved a sigh.

"Fine," she huffed, and procured a bag of coins from a pocket. "Here."

I gladly accepted my money back, then nodded. "Thank you."

She scowled. "Was that all you wanted? Because I feel like I just came into your room to get robbed."

"Seems like you’re a little bit low on gold," I said, pointing out the obvious.

Lisa snorted. "No thanks to you."

"Well," I started, pulling out a few coins from the pouch. "What are you willing to do to make some of it back?" I grinned underneath my mask as I watched her eyes light up.

"That’s an interesting proposal. What do you want?"

I counted out ten gold coins, and placed it on the wooden table next to my bed. "I want to know everything there is to know about Ginah’s Crew."

It was a lot of gold, but I was pretty sure things like information were worth a lot— especially in the underground. And since Lisa was someone who was experienced with such deals, I knew I was at a disadvantage here; I had no idea what was a good price, and ten gold seemed like a decent amount to start off with.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Well," she started, keeping her voice neutral. "I feel like if you want me to tell you everything about Ginah’s Crew, you might want to fork up some more gold."

"I’m not playing this game, Lisa," I lied. "This is all you’re getting back from me. So either speak up, or walk away empty handed."

This was a gambit. If she did not bite on the bait, I’d have to concede and give her more than I wanted to. I was prepared to say goodbye to all the gold she had returned me considering I had already given it away in the first place. However, I’d have preferred if I did not spend so much on things I didn’t need to.

Shuffling her feet, the young woman took a deep breath and sighed. "Fine," she said, putting up her hands, "you caught me. That’s more than enough. And it’s not like there’s anything interesting to tell you anyway."

I relaxed slightly upon hearing that. "So what is there to know?" I asked.

"As I told you yesterday, Ginah’s Crew is considered to be one of the better pirate groups around. Everyone knows if you’re in hard times and considering to turn to criminal activity, but don’t want to do anything egregious, Ginah’s Crew would probably accept you."

"Wait," I cut her off, "why would you even want to do that?"

"What do you mean?" Lisa frowned.

I paused, choosing my next words carefully… or stupidly. It felt like a mix of both, considering I had to ask the question in the first place. "Why would you… turn to crime? Can’t you just find another job?"

"Do you even read the news, Melas?"

I hesitated. "No?"

Lisa looked at me inquisitively, but did not comment any further. "Laxis, as a country, hasn’t been doing so well for the past few decades," she explained. "You at least know about the Free War, right?"

At my nod, she continued.

"During the Free War, the Holy Xan Empire claimed that any country that aided them in invading the Free Lands would be rewarded, but those that did not would not be punished. Since Laxis did partake in a moderate amount of trade with the Free Lands, the King at the time decided to remain neutral. Stay out of the war."

I drew my lips into a thin line as I realized what happened. "And when the Holy Xan Empire was forced back to their continent, they blamed you guys."

"They blamed everyone who did not offer them support," Lisa corrected me. "And that’s not just Laxis. It was Elius, Puer, and a handful of small countries too. However, what makes our country stand out was what happened before the Holy Xan Empire left.

"The Holy Xan Empire realized they could not maintain their supply lines, and demanded all countries that had chosen to remain neutral to switch sides or face punitive consequences. Our King thought that if all the countries that chose to remain neutral refused this demand, the damage the Holy Xan Empire could do would be negligible. Much to his surprise however, more than half of the countries acquiesced, and only the few countries that stubbornly refused now face punishment, at first through naval blockades, but now it’s just a trade embargo."

"So now," I said, extrapolating from what I had just learned. "The country is in an economic crisis. That’s why people are turning towards crime." It was also the reason why the donations to Jay’s orphanage dried up around this time. The timeframe lined up with how things had to have gone down.

"Right," Lisa confirmed. "That’s why people turned to piracy. That’s what happened with Ginah’s father. 15 years ago, he was the most feared pirate around Luke. But Ginah didn’t like how her father did things. She didn’t like how cruel and terrible he was, so she killed him."

"Just like that?" I asked, blinking.

"Just like that." She nodded. "You have to understand, Ginah was trained to be a natural born killer since she was a little girl. And when she beat her father in combat and killed him, she reformed his original group, calling them Ginah’s Crew."

"But wouldn’t some of them be unhappy about that?"

"They would," Lisa said. "And they were." She gestured out the porthole, towards the people outside going about their day. "What you see out there is not even a tenth of the original group. Many of them mutinied, but Ginah won. And now, she’s formed a crew of people she can help. People who trust her."

I slowly let the information sink in, trying to glean any sort of inconsistency with what was said; I could not find any, so I decided to go for a different approach.

"And what’s your relationship with them?" I asked. "Allies out necessity since you both dislike the Elise?"

"I guess?" The young woman paused for a moment to think. She glanced up at the ceiling, placing her index finger right at the tip of her chin. "We’ve always had a fairly good relationship with Ginah’s Crew. We’ve done a few jobs for them in the past. But it was only when the Elise showed did we start working closer together. Then they were driven out a few months back, and… well, you know how Jack and I have been ever since."

I narrowed my eyes. "Interesting, so you always were enemies of the Elise? As in, you never liked them?"

"Not really, no. And we weren’t enemies, per se. We just didn’t work jobs for them because we disagreed with their business practices."

"That’s really interesting," I repeated myself. I walked around my room, lowering a hand down to my waist. "You know, that’s almost a different story than what you initially told me a few days ago?"

Lisa’s eyes widened as she immediately paled. "Wait, no— what do you mean?"

I studied the young woman as her eyes darted between meeting my eyes and the dagger sheathed on my belt. "You told me that Jack refused to work with the Elise because he was… a speciesist. Not because of anything they did in specific, like diffusing the enuim among the populace. In fact, I found your tone and language about them back a few nights ago to be quite favorable. That’s quite the drastic change, don’t you think?"

There were many varying possibilities here. I did not like most of them, but I wasn’t about to slit her throat just because of this one inconsistency. However, if I did not get a satisfying explanation, I was going to have to speak with Gennady about this, and we would then reconsider our arrangements with Ginah.

She waved her hands placatingly. "Calm down, Melas. That was just…" she trailed off as I tapped a finger impatiently on my dagger’s hilt.

"What is it?" I asked. "Are you paid off by the Elise then? Was that an attempt on Jack’s life which you failed? Or was the Elise looking for some petty revenge against Gennady because he beat up a bunch of their men the other week by accident?" I listed out all the possibilities, but Lisa quickly denied it all.

"No!" she exclaimed. "I swear I didn’t do anything! I’m just…" She chewed on her lip as she was still hesitating.

"Out with it," I nearly snapped.

"I just like money, okay?" Lisa spoke hurriedly. She balled her hands into a fist, and continued speaking through gritted teeth. "I don’t care about all these stupid principles everyone has. It’s just as you said yesterday: we’re already breaking the law aren’t we? Why does it matter if we smuggle the enuim or if we smuggle something else? It’s all the same, isn’t it?"

"No it isn’t," I said simply. "But that doesn’t matter. I just have to know: will you betray us?"

"I won’t!" Lisa took a step back, and lowered her head. A pink shade came over her cheeks as she spoke softly, almost in a whisper. "I will never betray Jack. I became his partner for a reason, after all. He’s just so stubborn sometimes, but I wouldn’t go against him. If I wanted to, I’d have done that months ago."

I cocked a brow, but I decided not to press her any further; I had learned what I wanted, and I would prefer not to pass any sort of judgement now. I needed to discuss this with Gennady first, then maybe pass it on to Ginah— just so she could watch her back. Lisa’s explanation made sense, and her feelings appeared genuine, but I still did not fully trust her.

"Fine," I said. "I believe you. But you do realize that lying to me hasn’t won you any points, right? If Ginah or Jack get upset that I won’t help them in fighting the Elise, I’ll point their ire in your direction."

"I know." Her brows arched darkly on her forehead. "Just… please don’t tell Jack about how I feel. I’m not ready for him to know just yet."

I folded my arms. "I won’t. And I don’t care about either of your interpersonal relationships. I just want to get to the Taw Kingdom. Now please leave my room. I want to gather my thoughts for a moment before I speak with Gennady."

"Thank you," she whispered. She spun around and pushed the door open. She paused for a moment and she turned back to face me. "And Melas," she added, as I gave her a sidelong glance, "I may not have had any reason to dislike the Elise before, but know that I do have one now. Take that as you may."

"I will."

And with that, Lisa left.

I waited for a few moments, as the footsteps on the wooden floor slowly got further and further away until I heard nothing. Then I sighed.

"Now, what do I do with this information?"

I had not learned what I wanted to about Ginah’s Crew, and that might have been a good thing; however, the fact that Lisa was a liar and opportunist did not alleviate any of the concerns I had. And even if I was glad that I caught a liar in the act, I really wish I didn’t have, as that would not help me sleep any easier than I did last night.

Chapter 29: Next Step

Shortly after Lisa left, I had someone direct me to where Gennady was staying; he slept in one of the communal dormitories, just like Lisa and Jack did, but he was kept in a separate building from Jack to keep the two bickering. The Dwarf still seemed down, but he immediately brightened when I handed him back his gold.

"Here," I said. "Since we’re obviously not in Jahar’taw right now, I got our money back. This is yours."

"Oh." He blinked. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, before he snatched the gold off my hand. "Glad ya upped and did it for me. I probably would’ve ended up getting into a fight with that Jack if I tried to get it back from him."

I paused, scrutinizing his face; indecision kept me from saying anything for a moment, but I finally managed to muster up the courage to speak. "Do you think that’s enough?" I asked.

"Enough?"

"For the parts to make you a new bike." I waited to see if he would visibly react, and when he did not, I continued. "You didn’t lose anything else that was important, right? You’ve got your bag with you, and that’s got all your personal items… right?" I felt stupid for repeating myself like that, but I wanted to tread lightly considering the way he was the night before.

Gennady paused to stare at me, then sighed. "I’m fine, Melas— and I’m sorry for revealing your name the other day. But there’s no need to be concerned. I don’t have any sentimental attachments to that bike, and this is probably more than enough to buy everything I need to make a new one."

I found myself nodding along as he spoke, then glanced heavenward at the rock ceiling above, before looking back down and facing him. "Why were you so…" I trailed off, leaving the words unsaid but the implication hanging in the air.

"So depressed?" He cocked a brow.

"Uh, yes."

He took a deep breath, leaning his back on the cold, stone surface of the cave wall. "I was just upset. It’s something I spent a lot of time designing. And while I do have the blueprints necessary to build a new bike from scratch, I had planned to simply show the finished product to a friend back in Taw."

"Why’s that?" I looked at the Dwarf inquisitively. "What were you planning to do?"

"Revolutionize transportation, of course," he snorted. He wagged a finger in the air as he explained. "Right now, the mana cars, bikes, and ships you see all rely on expensive, large mana crystals to function. If not those, they typically require dozens of smaller ones, which doesn’t make it any more efficient or cheaper. And what happens when a mana crystal of a car is tapped out?"

"You have to buy another one."

"Exactly."

He pushed himself off the wall and straightened; he took on a lecturing tone almost reminiscent to the professors I had met when I attended summer college classes back on Earth.

"What I did was reconcile mana tech with steam technology to make this hybrid form of technology that would be a cheaper and better alternative to what is available right now. People still ride horses and carts because they can’t afford mana crystals, but what about liquid mana? Or as I’m calling it— mana fuel."

"Won’t the cost of liquid mana just go up then?" I asked, frowning. "Since more people want to buy it?"

"Yes," Gennady agreed, stroking his beard. "But so would the supply of liquid mana since people would then capitalize on all the untouched mana wells. Maybe it’d become more expensive than it is now, but it’ll never reach the prices of mana crystals. They just don’t have as much utility as those.

"My friend owns many large factories throughout the country. He’d be able to mass produce these vehicles of mine at such a scale, it’d be used in all of Taw within a decade. Us Dwarves, unlike you Humans— no offense— aren’t as close minded to new ideas. That’s why we’re known as inventors and innovators. When the Mana Revolution came about, we didn’t just give up on every industry we had before. We understood we could combine both to reach peak efficiency!"

"That’s a very Dwarf thing for you to say." I grinned, forgetting for a second that I still had my mask on.

"Oh shut it," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "It would’ve been easier to simply show how superior my mana bike is to the regular ones out there, since many of the Engineer-Tinkerers there wouldn’t be able to graph my design. But I’m confident I wouldn’t run into any problems selling it otherwise."

I smiled as he finally seemed to return to his usual self; placing a hand on his shoulder, I nodded reassuringly. "Of course you won’t. You’re probably the smartest Dwarf I know."

"I’m the only Dwarf you know," Gennady snorted.

I shrugged over exaggeratedly. "It’s true."

He laughed, raising a hand to smack me in the back. I braced myself for it, but was caught off guard when he lightly patted me instead.

"So," he started, changing the subject, "is that all you wanted to see me for?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I’ve known ya for a bit, lass. I know how you operate. You like to do as many things at once whenever you can. I highly doubt you came here just to check on me and cheer me up with gold— which, I appreciate by the way."

I folded my arms and faked a pout. "Hey! Are you saying I don’t have empathy! Because I do have lots of it!"

Gennady rolled his eyes. "Coming from the girl who tried to kill me when we first met."

"That’s… fair." I exhaled deeply, then glanced about— making sure nobody was nearby. When I was certain that we had our privacy, I spoke up. "It’s about Lisa," I said.

"Jack’s partner?" I watched as the Dwarf’s brows furrowed in his forehead. "What about her?"

"I don’t trust her." It was an empty statement; I was suspicious of her ever since she barged into my room without a sound. However, after catching her in her lie, I didn’t feel the least bit reassured since I had no idea what to do now. "She lied to me. It wasn’t a terrible lie, but she definitely isn’t who she seems to be."

"Quit skirting around the subject! I don’t quite get what you’re saying, lass."

I sighed; I was not sure how to explain it. The way she acted— she seemed both honest and fake at the same time. Her interest in me did not seem fabricated, but her demeanour certainly was.

"I don’t know," I admitted. "But unlike Ginah’s Crew and Jack, I don’t think she has any reason to dislike the Elise. She could betray us for any number of reasons."

Gennady didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he looked at me for a few seconds, and I blinked.

"What?"

"Don’t ya think you’re being paranoid again?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I’m not paranoid," I said simply. "I’m just—"

"—erring on the side of caution, right," Gennady finished for me. "You’ve said that before. But I think this is a little too extreme. Just because someone doesn’t have any reason to hate your enemies doesn’t mean they will betray you."

"I don’t think she’ll betray us," I corrected him, "I just don’t trust her entirely."

"You know what I mean." The Dwarf squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Melas, I don’t want to pry information out of you, but why are you so afraid of trusting people?"

"I have my reasons," I stated flatly.

"I know you do. Everyone does. However, that doesn’t mean you should automatically assume the worst in people."

I shook my head. "Not just regular people. Criminals."

"And so are you for being a heretic," he pointed out the obvious.

I knew that; I was aware that I could very well apply the same kind of prejudice against myself that way. I wouldn’t blame anyone if they found my secrets and my nature to be suspicious— not trusting me only seemed to be the smart thing to do. So I said it.

"I wouldn’t trust me either."

Gennady just stared at me for a moment, almost disbelieving. Then he gave me a resigned look. "So what then?" he asked. "You don’t think the person we hired is trustworthy, but we aren’t working with her anymore. What are you going to do?"

"I don’t know," I said, earning me a facepalm from the Dwarf. "Listen— and don’t stare at me like that! I wanted to speak with you specifically to discuss this. I... am not sure what to do."

His gaze bore into me for a moment longer, then he lowered his arms. "You don’t know what to do because there isn’t anything to do."

He gestured away from us— in the direction of the pirates.

"If you tell them Lisa might betray us to the Elise, they’ll ask you for proof. If that proof just amounts to her lying in your face, they’ll laugh at you and treat you like a child— which, now that I think about it, isn’t exactly the best metaphor to use with you. But you get what I’m sayin’, aintcha?"

"I understand the gist of it." I raised a hand, stopping him from continuing. I felt my lips draw into a thin line. "But I can’t just do nothing can I?"

"‘Course not," he said, matter-of-factly. "Just keep an eye out. Maybe gather more evidence if there’s something leading you to really believe she’ll betray us. Other than that, there’s nothing for you to do."

"Shouldn’t I at least tell Ginah?" I asked, cocking my head. "Or Jack."

"No. You barely even know them, while they’ve known Lisa for who knows how long. Disclosing it with me is fine, but otherwise, you should keep it to yourself. Telling it to them now will only alienate them from you."

I brought a hand up to my chin, considering this. "I… understand."

"Good," he said, this time slapping me across the back; I was not prepared for it, and nearly doubled over. "Now if that’s all you wanted to talk about, I’ve gotta run. There’s this kid who wants to take a look at some of my equipment. Seems like he’s a self taught Tinkerer— perhaps you might find yourself with a rival apprentice."

"As long as you don’t replace me, I can deal with not being your only pupil."

"Hah, maybe I will," Gennady chortled. I gave him a mock glare as he headed off, leaving me alone.

I stood there, at the corner of the cave, gathering my thoughts: Gennady was right. I would be behaving foolishly if I called out Lisa with no evidence— simple lies and deceit to someone she just met did not count. Furthermore, I barely knew them. They probably trusted me as much as I trusted them.

I had to show that I was an asset to them first— not to prove myself so I would feel accepted, but to be accepted so I had some influence within the group; whether Lisa would betray us was a worry for another time, and was something I should just keep in mind when talking to her. But if I wanted to spend my time working with Ginah’s Crew to disrupt the Elise’s functions, I needed to be able to work well with these people at least on some level.

If Lisa truly could be bribed to betray these pirates, it would allow the Elise to run unimpeded in growing their enuim trade. I did not want to let that happen, although I acknowledged that I would not stay around if it looked like an unwinnable fight. Therefore, I had to ensure these pirates had a modicum of a chance to put a halt to their supply of drugs, and had to be on the lookout for potential hurdles to this such as Lisa currently was.

Perhaps I was being paranoid as Gennady said, but I could not be certain; I was just being wary. After all, I wanted to leave for the Taw Kingdom with a clear conscience, and both those outcomes were predicated on Ginah’s Crew’s success.

For the next few days, I took Gennady’s advice and focused on socializing while practicing my magic; I had pushed aside learning how to create mana tech for now as I wouldn’t be able to do anything useful with it anytime soon. That was not to say I completely ignored it— I simply spent less time on it than I had previously been spending.

I felt out of place amongst the boisterous pirates which made gaining their trust more difficult than it should be. The way they treated me almost seemed as if they held no apprehension with my presence, but I knew they weren’t willing to divulge anything truly important to me just as I wasn’t willing to do so with them. My mask served as both a physical and metaphorical barrier between me and most of Ginah’s Crew, barring Braz.

The man was about as open as anyone could get: he treated me as if I was just another person, and wasn’t trying to constantly guess whether I was a Goblin, Half Goblin, Half Dwarf, or Hobbit— the last one which I did not understand since they were extinct, but a kid put the idea out anyways.

Ever since I confronted Lisa about her lie, there had been kind of a rift between us. It was not obvious at first, and we did speak to each other whenever we saw one another, but it wasn’t as often nor as long as before. I never got to know her personally in the first place. so I didn’t really see it as a loss, yet it also made observing her difficult since we never really interacted now.

I never spoke to Jack before, and I did not plan on starting now. I did not like the way he treated Gennady.

I did, however, get to know the young man Gennady had taken as his pseudo apprentice; his name was Sevin and he was the same one who gave me his mana crystal the other night. He seemed nice— friendly, but not as open as Braz. A rather normal person, in fact.

That was actually the most significant piece of information I learned about Ginah’s Crew— most of their members came from pretty average backgrounds before becoming pirates. Just as Lisa told me, these people found themselves in economic hardship due to some reason or another, and found themselves turning towards crime to survive. Most of their stories ended with Ginah swooping in at their lowest points, offering them a chance to escape from that life without principles.

It was an attractive offer, one which many of them accepted before finding themselves here. When I asked Sevin whether he regretted doing so, since he now found himself embroiled in a territorial war with another criminal organization, he simply shrugged.

"Not really," the young man said, lowering the pistol he was building from scratch. He had been inscribing some runes onto the weapon’s surface before connecting it to the mana crystal— a technique Gennady told me was not often used by Dwarves. "I don’t like the Elise. They don’t do things fair. We’re different from them— better than them. It is our duty to drive them and their supply of enuim out of Luke, before it becomes an issue throughout the country."

"Why does that matter?" I asked, cocking my head.

"The enuim? It’s a incredibly destructive—"

"No," I cut him off. "Not doing things fair," I clarified, "why does that matter?"

Leaning back on his chair, Sevin scratched his cheek as he took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Because then you ruin things for everybody. Being unfair hurts people. It stops them from benefiting as much as you, just so you get an advantage. And I think that’s wrong."

"But aren’t you guys being unfair by being pirates?" I pointed out the obvious. I carefully watched the young man for his reaction— seeing if he would get angry at what I said. "You guys commit many crimes. Illegal things like stealing and robbing, which would hurt someone somewhere, no? That’s unfair, is it not?"

He paused for a moment, turning to face me. He slowly said, "It is unfair if things were fair in the first place. But after everything that has happened to our country, we have no choice but to escape the unfair playing field of doing things legally and never succeeding no matter what we do, to the fairer playing field of crime. As long as we stick to our morals— never betraying what makes us people in the first place— I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with breaking the law."

"I see."

That sentiment was not one I disagreed with, even if I felt that it could be articulated better; I thought what he said made sense. And yet, I still asked the question.

I was not interested in his answer— it was almost expected that he would say that. I did not care for the philosophical discussion which might come from my questions; I was simply prying for information.

And the prevailing conclusion I had from that information was this: Lisa was not lying.

Ginah’s Crew was definitely close to the imagined idea of noble criminals. Whether this served to increase my opinion of Ginah, Lisa, or both even, was something that remained to be seen.

Regardless, knowing this compelled me to finally act. Ginah had so far accommodated my requests since I had offered them my help. And it was time for me to fulfill my end of the bargain.

I stepped into a small wooden hut, entering what appeared to be a makeshift meeting room; there was a large rectangular table in the center, with the city map of Luke laid out on it. Ginah was in conference with a man I recognized as Kai, the Quartermaster who managed all the administrative duties Ginah could not attend to.

"Did you need something, Melas?" The pirate Captain asked, glancing up at me; other than when she got annoyed at me the first two times we spoke, we hadn’t really clashed heads again. So she held no venom in her tone, and addressed me almost casually.

"No," I said, walking up to the two. I nodded at Kai whom I briefly interacted with twice now, and turned my attention to Ginah. "I was just wondering how I can help."

"Help?" She exchanged a look with Kai. The Quartermaster just shrugged, opting to stay out of this conversation.

"Yes." I gestured with a thumb at the map. "You guys have been busy, right? I highly doubt you have been wasting time doing nothing while the Elise continues its operations smoothly."

"Of course not," Ginah snorted, folding her arms. "We’ve been sending some informants in and out of Luke. Our last one came back two days ago."

"Did he have anything useful to say?" I asked, raising an eyebrow underneath my mask.

She frowned. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Because," I started, "I want to help. I can’t help you if I don’t know what you guys are planning, nor can I help you if you guys don’t let me."

Ginah raised an eyebrow. "We’ve been open to accepting your help all this time, Melas."

"Then let me in on this," I said simply. "How can I help you?"

I looked between the Quartermaster and the Captain, as they appeared undecided for a moment; they probably were going to reject my offer— tell me that it was important information for an important mission that was not suitable for a newcomer like me or whatever.

I was prepared for that. I had made a pitch— I had planned a whole speech to convince them to allow me to show that I was trustworthy— but was pleasantly surprised when it did not need to come to that.

"Sure," Ginah finally said.

"Sure— wait, what?" I asked, still caught slightly off guard by her response.

Kai took over, clarifying for his leader. "She said we wouldn’t mind divulging you with the information, if you assisted us in this mission."

"Oh, uh—" I caught myself stumbling over my words. "I knew what that meant. I was just… not expecting that answer."

"What were you expecting?" The pirate Captain looked inquisitively at me, hands on her hip.

"It’s— nevermind." I shook my head, focusing on what was important. "So, what did your informants tell you?" I asked.

"There’s going to be some sort of meeting held over the weekend. We think it’s important, and there might be members of the Dark Crusaders there as well. You know what that means, right?"

"Yes," I said, meeting Ginah’s eyes."There’ll be spellcasters."

She nodded as Kai took over the explanation. "And that’s why we think you’ll be a good addition for this mission. We were actually just discussing whether we should ask for your help when you came in. It was fortuitous timing, to say the least."

"And you guys aren’t worried that I might be one of them— the Dark Crusaders?"

"If we had been worried about that, we wouldn’t have brought you here to our hideout in the first place," Ginah retorted.

"I’m just asking a question." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Don’t ask stupid questions. The answer is obvious— you’re here and we’re asking for your help. Obviously we trust you enough to do that, right?"

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but Kai quickly interrupted me.

"Anyway," he said, stepping forward to the table and pointing at something marked on the map. "This is where they’ll be meeting at. It’s a warehouse that appears to belong to a large whiskey company, but actually is one of the largest drug storage areas they own. By interrupting this meeting, we can kill two birds with one stone."

"I see." I followed the man’s fingers as he tapped it on the location— I had to tip toe slightly just to see it clearly. "And their leader… that Half Elf—"

"Bahr," Ginah added for me.

"Yes, him. Will he be there?" I asked.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "He won’t be. At least, we don’t think so. He’s the one in charge of everything as well as the only connection between the Dark Crusaders and the Elise. He wouldn’t put himself in such danger."

"Danger? What do you mean by that?"

Ginah paused for a moment, blinking. "Right, I forgot to tell you. Why didn’t you bring it up, Kai?"

The man just sighed. "Because you didn’t give me the chance."

"Whatever." She raised her shoulders in a half shrug, before continuing. "We think the Elise is planning on stealing from the King’s palace. They probably want to raid his vault, considering he’s not even there right now."

That was right: the King of Laxis would usually be located in the Capital city, of course. That was how it normally worked. However, due to the significant rise in crime and the deterioration of the city of Luke, the King had taken a temporary vacation to his holiday home far down south.

He left six years ago.

Ginah continued.

"The vault still holds some riches, although it’s not as much as before. But they couldn’t possibly have transferred everything valuable out of the palace, let alone the city. And since the Elise has been stretching itself too thin as of late, they probably need the gold to both continue funding themselves, as well as send some back to the Dark Crusaders. And that’s why the Dark Crusaders will be helping them with this job."

"And you guys want to stop them from even starting this plan of theirs, since it would deal a significant blow to the Elise by cutting off their funding, right?" I asked, confirming my suspicions.

"That’s pretty much the gist of it," Ginah said, taking a step back away from the table. She craned her neck to the side, as she stared at me. "So, what? You’re not having second thoughts, are you?"

"Of course not." I rolled my eyes.

I was slightly concerned knowing that I was going up against the Dark Crusaders… again. But I knew that they were a mostly decentralized group outside of the Infernalis. Whatever cell this was had no relation to Gerritt or Karna.

And while I could rationalize away stealing and robbing— even killing if it was necessary. I could never justify permanently ruining the lives of others just for profit; it was as wrong as what Victor did.

So with a grin behind my mask, I met the hazel eyes of the pirate Captain and gave her my answer without any hesitation.

"I’m in."

Chapter 30: Infiltration

It was dark; I could not see anything. That should have been expected since it was night time, but the fact that I was covered by a cloth blanket made that darkness even more apparent. I was being smothered— it was difficult to breathe, but not impossible. And yet, I was in this position out of my own volition.

I felt the wooden boat rock as another wave splashed against its side. The crates and barrels shook, but they did not topple. They were fastened firmly onto deck specifically so they would stay— even if they were just there for show. The real cargo in the boat was me.

Or at least, I was one of the ‘goods’ being transported.

There were six others with me. Six of us had been chosen to go on this sabotage mission. We were supposed to infiltrate a warehouse on the southeastern side of the city, gather whatever information we could, and apprehend or kill the supposed Dark Crusaders that were there.

Apparently, the leader of the Elise was a Dark Crusader, yet he was the only ostensible tie between the organization and the powerful group of zealots. Ginah wanted to ensure that the partnership between the two remained as limited as possible.

It made sense: the Dark Crusaders were not very unified despite its large size. This Half Elf named Bahr was probably acting out of his own authority, and was trying now to prove it was now something worth investing more manpower and resources into, to the Infernalis. And since facing the Elise alone was bad enough, them getting the support of this continent wide group would have exacerbated the issue significantly.

As such, we simply had to show the Infernalis that supporting the Elise was not a goal worth pursuing by ruining any of the burgeoning attempts at partnership between them.

I was not happy knowing that the Dark Crusaders— or rather, the Infernalis— were participating in further immoral acts with the weak justification that if furthered their cause; I could not excuse this unlike other of the morally dubious things they did.

It was supposed to be a small meeting, so only a small group of ‘elite’ fighters were chosen to go; I, obviously, knew magic, so I was considered a significant asset to them. And yet, not everyone in this group were fighters.

I glanced over at Lisa, also huddled under the cloth blanket. I could barely make out her figure— it was nothing more than a shadow— yet I knew she was there from when she first came. The young woman was one of the people picked to join us in this mission. And she was with Jack, of course.

Apparently the duo were known to always be together, and we needed their help to get to where we needed. That was why she and Jack were picked to come too. They were both pertinent to us getting to where we needed to be.

Gennady wasn’t joining us— he was not known for his subtlety, nor was he really necessary for this. With the recent rift between me and Lisa, I was left only in the company of strangers. And while I would typically find that uncomfortable, there was someone else I knew on board. Yet, his presence did not reassure me— in fact, it bothered me more than anything. And that was because...

"You know, the last time I entered Luke, a group of five thugs tried to mug me."

Braz recounted his tale after a drunken night out. My eyes darted over to him, and I gave him a glare. He did not see it, of course, and simply continued.

"You’d think someone as skilled as me would just beat them all up, but I froze up! I gave them all my money, and they took off with it! My intoxicated mind chose flight over fight, when fight was obviously the better option. Can you believe that?"

I took a deep breath, calming myself down; he was finished. All I had to do was nod, and he would be done. Slowly, I brought my head up and down, trying to signal to him that I heard his story, and found it entertaining. He would be satisfied with that—

"Anyways, the next day, I—"

I felt my eyes twitched, and then I had enough. I turned to my companion, and shushed him. "Shush! Can’t you keep it down?"

"Why should we?" Braz asked, a bewildered look plastered onto his face. "It’s not like they can hear us over the wind and the sea. Ignoring the fact that no one is probably nearby. We’ll be fine!"

I could not understand the man’s chipper attitude; he was almost always like this, which I initially thought was an act to get me to lower my guard, but I now knew this was just how he was. He dismissively waved a hand.

"You don’t need to be so on edge all the time, Melas. I’ve done this a hundred times, and I have never been caught!"

I bit my tongue and balled my hand into a fist, both stopping a retort from coming out as well as preventing me from instinctively knocking on wood. Is he serious? I thought stupidly. There was no reason to think that: no one would fool around purposely at a time like this.

"It’s better to be safe than sorry, Braz," I said simply.

"You’re too uptight," he replied uncaringly. "But if you insist, I’ll put a lid on it. Anyways, we’re almost there."

I frowned. How did he know that?

And yet, he was right. I felt the boat jerk as we came to a slow but sudden stop; the boat still rocked back and forth, but it was more stable now. I waited with bated breath as the sound of footfalls on wooden planks approached, and a conversation broke out.

Light shone against the cloth blanket, and I could see the shadow of figures talking just a few feet away from me. The discussion continued on for about a minute, while I felt sweat slowly trickle down the side of my head. I could almost hear the tiny bead of water splattering all over the creaky wood floor, despite knowing that it was my fear getting to my head.

After what felt like forever, the guards left and the light went away. I exhaled deeply, but did it as quietly as possible; it might not have been over just yet. A moment passed, and finally I could relax.

"All clear."

I heard the whisper; it was the signal that we could leave. Along with Jack, Lisa, and Braz, I slowly rolled over the thick cloth blanket covering us amongst the barrels and crates, and we got to our feet.

Blinking to adjust to the light, I glanced around to take in where we were: it was the docks. The same pier that Gennady and I found ourselves in a fight with sailors from The Lightbringer’s Vessel in. Or perhaps they were criminals? They apparently worked for the Elise, so they probably were criminals.

I turned to face the man who had been in charge of bringing us here. Kai and two other pirates from the crew that saw me do magic were the ones that had brought us here. They sailed the relatively tiny wooden vessel here under the guise of small time merchants coming in from a nearby city’s port to sell their wares out of desperation. It had worked, and now we were good to continue with our plan.

I met the brown-green eyes of the Quartermaster as he switched his disguise. He had previously been dressed as a merchant, but now he was donning the cap and vest of a sailor, as he stepped out onto the wooden platform.

"What now?" I asked, hopping onto the pier right behind him.

Kai nodded in the direction of Jack and Lisa. "We’re following them." He gestured back at the two pirates by his side. "Myself, Vinnie, and Elda are going to pretend to be part of their crew. You and Braz are their bodyguards. They’ll get us to where we need to go, without any questions asked."

"What exactly am I supposed to do as their bodyguard?" I raised an eyebrow underneath my mask.

Braz patted my lightly on the shoulder as he walked past me.

"Just stand there and look intimidating. It’s easy!"

I rolled my eyes. That’s not exactly going to be easy, I quipped mentally.

I said nothing further, and followed Jack and Lisa as the two led the way.

The two smugglers were well connected in the city of Luke; they had their own network of spies, informants, and allies… up until the Elise came about and alienated them from their contacts. It was not a complete separation.

In the same way that drugs, gambling, and prostitution were ostensibly proscribed in Laxis yet was still prevalent throughout the country— especially Luke— Jack and Lisa still worked with some of their former informants and allies. Sure, it was miniscule compared to those they previously worked with, and sure, it was never for anything big since they had to remain subtle, but they did work together.

And it was with their help we were going to get to the Elise’s warehouse.

Jack and Lisa entered what appeared to be the front door of a liquor store, and I followed behind them walking next to Braz who had a cloth facemask on. The two of us stood closer to the smugglers than Kai and the two fake sailors, since we were their bodyguards-apparent and should be around them at all times.

After speaking to the man at the front of the store, we were ushered down to the cellar with barrels of wine, beer, and other alcohol lined up on either side of the walls. We went past it, up until we found a group of men gathered around some open crates with stacks of crushed leaves poking out the top.

I cocked my head, but did not say anything. That was not the enuim— it was probably some other drug, considering the enuim was not a naturally grown substance. Plus, adding to the fact that Jack, Lisa, and Ginah’s Crew were literally against the Elise because of their selling of the enuim and its dangerous effects, I felt like I could safely assume that whatever this drug was, it was not detrimental to one’s entire life.

Hopefully.

Thankfully, I did not need to talk since I was supposed to just act like a bodyguard; a man broke off from his conversation as he saw Lisa approach. He was probably the boss of the group. Spreading his arms wide open, he warmly welcomed the young woman.

"Lisa," he said, a smile spread across his rough and weary face. "It’s good to see you! I haven’t seen you in almost a month."

"It has only been two weeks," she replied, reciprocating his demeanour. "But I’m glad to see you too."

Jack scowled as the man brought her into a hug; for a moment during their embrace, I could see Lisa’s facade slip as her body tensed, but she was back to normal in an instant.

The man stepped back, giving her a curt nod. "I’m sorry I haven’t been able to support you more, but you know how it is with the Elise, right?"

Lisa just waved a hand nonchalantly. "Right, right," she said, glancing back at us. I took a deep breath, knowing what she had to say next. She turned back to the man. "Well, that won’t be a problem anymore."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Lisa gave him an obviously fake smile. "We were, uh, coerced into joining the Elise."

And there it was. That was the lie we had concocted when we were planning this; Jack and Lisa were going to twist the truth and pretend that the Elise were successful in recruiting them by force while they were at sea. They would not have let word leak out that they failed in doing so, so we were going to use it to our advantage.

The man paused, as Lisa let him take in the implication of her words slowly Then his brows snapped together, as he clenched his fist. "They forced you to join them? Those bastards!"

The young woman hurriedly put her hand up, trying to calm him down. "It’s fine! They didn’t… hurt us or anything. We just exchanged some… words, and Jack and I decided it was in our best interest to stop being so stubborn and just help them out like everybody else."

He relaxed slightly, hearing that. "That’s good," he said, placing an arm around Lisa’s shoulder. She stiffened, but kept quiet once again. "I don’t care about Jack. But as long as you’re fine."

"And we’ll be fine as long as we have our bodyguards with us. You know—"

"Is that a Goblin?" the man cut her off, glancing at me. He took his arm off Lisa as he frowned, looking me over. "I think that’s a Goblin, right John?"

A man behind him voiced his agreement as he slowly reached for a weapon on his belt. I tensed, but Jack stepped in front of me, putting a hand out.

"So what if she is?" he asked, resting a hand on the hilt of one of his blades.

"We don’t like their kind here," the man spat back. "The last group of Goblins we met killed Kenny— those bastards. Robbed us of our goods. Why in Hell would you be working with Goblins?"

"If you’ve got a problem with her, that’s too bad for you," Jack said, voice uncaring. "You’ll just have to deal with it."

My eyes darted between the two men: it was obvious from the start that neither liked each other. I wasn’t sure of the specifics about their relationship, but it probably had something to do with them being ‘tough men’ in front of a pretty, young woman like Lisa. That meant Jack came to my defense not to defuse the situation, but to agitate the man.

And it appeared that they were both getting dangerously close to starting a fight. Kai looked like he was about to intervene, but held back by the glares coming from the group of men backing up their boss. Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth to speak.

"I’m with the Elise." I received a few confused looks from both our guys and their guys, before realizing I stupidly repeated what Lisa had said. I hurriedly added, "Bahr sent for me directly— from the Dark Crusaders."

Lisa immediately picked up on what I was doing, and followed up on what I said. "That’s right. She’s a Dark Crusader."

The man hesitated, as his men exchanged a few glances at his back. "So what?" he asked. "That doesn’t change that she’s a Goblin bastard."

"It means," Lisa started, wagging a finger, "if you attack her, you’d be making an enemy of not just the Elise, but the Dark Crusaders too."

He still looked uncertain, although his men had fully backed down at this point. Lisa placed a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"I know you’re tense because of your own personal issues with Goblins, but it’s not worth it. Come on, I need your help and I would be greatly indebted to you if you could do it."

Finally, that convinced the man; he broke his gaze off from me, and focused on the young woman at his side. "Fine. What do you need?" he asked, giving me one last sidelong glance.

"It’s nothing much. Just a little favor, that’s all," she said softly. "And it’s not just for me, it’s for the Elise too."

"The Elise?" He blinked. "What’s going on?"

Lisa put on her best smile— I couldn’t even tell it was a fake smile this time— and began to explain. "Jack and I have a meeting with them tonight. It’s kind of supposed to be a secret meeting, but we need help getting there."

"A meeting? Wait— you don’t mean…"

"Yes." She leaned over, placing a finger over his lips and winked. "It’s a secret. But you should have heard rumors about it, right?"

"Uh, of course. We heard about it because it’s taking place in the distillery where we get our best whiskey." He gestured at large barrels of alcohol all around us. "It’s a profitable business."

Is that an euphemism? I thought, narrowing my eyes. It almost sounded like one, but why would they need to use code words here? It made no sense, and I was pretty sure he was being truthful with what he was saying. And that meant he was still doing criminal activities while he could live a lavish life doing perfectly legal things.

I felt a sudden surge of disgust as Lisa and the man continued their conversation; I almost wished that I hadn’t managed to stop the fight from breaking out, just so I could have a reason to fight these people.

It was not just the fact that they sold drugs— the drugs could be harmless for all I cared. It was the fact that they obviously partook in other criminal acts as evident by the weapons they carried with them, which made me revile them.

I had to live doing terrible things I never would ever wished to do out of necessity. And yet, these guys were— or perhaps just the man was— doing the exact same things just to get richer? It made me sick.

Lisa and the man finished their discussion as I glared daggers at him from the side.

"...and that’s all you need?" he asked, not noticing the look I was giving him.

"Yes," she said, nodding. "Just for you to lend us one of your official wagons so we can enter the distillery without a problem or raising suspicion. And maybe some documentation too in case a patrol of city guards stops us and we can’t bribe them to go away."

He scratched a scar on his cheek. "That won’t be too difficult to arrange. I’ll get my men on it. You just need it for tonight, right?"

"Oh, thank you so much." Lisa threw her arms around him. "Yes, we just need it for tonight. We’ll return it, I promise."

"Of course!" He puffed up his chest, and began barking out orders to do just that.

His men scurried around us to get everything prepared as he and Lisa socialized for just a little longer; finally, with everything ready we could leave.

"I’ll see you soon, promise." Lisa waved her fingers at him as she left.

He just grunted in affirmation. I ignored it, and followed after Lisa and the obviously disgruntled Jack as they left. Braz poked my shoulder as he walked alongside me.

"What’s wrong?" he said, peering into my mask’s eye slits.

I quickly turned away, choosing to stare at the floor instead so he could not get even a glimpse of my face. "I dislike him," I said slowly.

I expected Braz to prod further into my reason, or even defend the man. But instead, he just shrugged.

"Same."

An hour later, we arrived at the location. We were let into the distillery without a problem, and found ourselves in a mostly empty storage room full of barrels of whiskey. Jack, Lisa, myself, Braz, and Kai hopped out of the back of the wagon, while the two other pirates with us pulled off their disguises as wagon drivers.

"This is it," Kai said. "You all know your roles, right?"

I nodded, as did everybody else.

"We don’t expect there to be a large group from either the Elise or the Dark Crusaders. They’re just meeting up to begin their preparations. Nothing serious. However,"— his eyes darted over to me momentarily— "if there are more than we think we can take, or if this is some sort of… ambush, we pull out separately and reconvene in the docks. Got it?"

So he doesn’t trust me, alright.

Ginah might have appeared to trust me, but that seemed in line with her personality. She was the leader who inspired and earned trust— which meant she had to give others trust to do so— while Kai was her adviser who had to screen the people she worked with more thoroughly.

"However, the first thing we have to do is find where this meeting is at," he continued. "Scour the area. Find them. Meet back here in half an hour. Do not get caught, and stay hidden."

Lisa just threw Kai a thumbs up, and quickly jumped back into the wagon, putting on the same cap Elda had been wearing when we entered this place. That was her job, after all. She was a noncombatant, so all she could do now was leave and wait for us back at our boat.

Jack snorted at her cheerful departure, but straightened quickly after. Then, with just the six of us left, we all split up into our own groups and began our search.

Sneaking through the shadows, I quietly made my way through the building; I was with Kai, who might have seemed like he was a rather booksmart fellow with no other skills, but was proving to be rather diverse in his repertoire. I had learned how to break into places with Karna, and while this man was not as subtle as a Goblin, he definitely surprised me with how lithe he was able to move.

I was pretty sure he assigned me to be with him so he could keep an eye on me— which was fair. But I was actually glad for this matchup, as I remembered how he fought. He was good. Perhaps not as fast— and definitely not as strong— as Braz. But he worked as a support.

If anything happened to just the two of us, I believed he would be able to aid me better than anyone else in our group would be able to…

That is if he decides helping me is in his best interest.

There were risks to things, and this was one I had to consider significantly: I barely knew the man. He might decide trying to save my life for whatever reason was not worth it, opting to leave me if things even began to look dangerous. I was not sure how high of a chance that had of happening, but I had to be aware and wary of it.

We continued through dark corridors together, although I made to track Kai’s movements carefully just in case. The building was large for a distillery— and that was because it was used for more than just making alcohol. It was a drug den too.

This was where they made the enuim and stored it too. It was extremely large for that reason.

Kai and I found ourselves stepping out onto a catwalk on the second floor of a big open room. There were pot stills with pipes connected to them laid out across the room, and although none of them were currently in use, I still saw something flicker.

Dark figures moved about in the warehouse. It was hard to see for a regular person, but I had spent too much of my time in the shadows and dark places. It was something I had accustomed myself to ever since I was with the Dark Crusaders, and had stuck with me since. So I could see what Kai could not. And what I saw was this:

People— probably Humans— with hoods over their heads tried to quietly funnel into a room across from us. But it was not just them. There were others, and they were more blatant in what they were.

They were Goblins.

My old allies, and my current enemies.

The Dark Crusaders.

Chapter 31: Enemies

"There they are," I whispered, pointing a finger in the direction of the shadows lurking in the dark.

Kai sidled up next to me; we crouched next to the railings together, as the man squinted. "So it seems."

"What do we do?" I asked, turning to him.

"You," he said, turning to face me, "will go back and get the others. I will keep track of them— ensure that they do not go somewhere else."

I knew he was wary of me— he probably thought if he left me here, there was a chance I might betray them and warn the Dark Crusaders of their ambush. I could understand his reasoning, even though I knew it was not true at all. Simply choosing to nod, I followed his orders and returned back down the hallway we came from.

It took me ten minutes to get back to the meeting point: no one else was there, of course. It hadn’t even been 30 minutes since we separated. I waited for a bit, a hand on my dagger as I kept my guard up.

Eventually, Jack and Braz returned, followed by Elda and Vinnie. We exchanged little words— I simply told them what they needed to know, asking them to follow me, and they did.

I brought them to Kai, who had gone back to the hallway out of sight from the Goblins and Humans. He nodded at my prompt arrival, then pointed a thumb at the large room beyond us.

"They entered a doorway across from us," he said. "I’m not sure what it’s for, but it almost appears to be a storage room. If I had to guess though, it leads to where they produce and keep their enuim."

"Good." Jack folded his arms. "That means we can take care of two things at once. Take them out, and destroy their supply of the enuim."

Everyone nodded in response, and I did too. However, I felt an urge to add in to what he said. "And we only kill them if necessary, right? Try to apprehend them if we can."

Kai narrowed his eyes as he looked over at me. He frowned, but simply answered, "As unlikely as it is, that is the best possible outcome for us, yes. However, if it comes down to it, we have to kill all the Dark Crusaders. Perhaps then they’d decide against supporting the Elise."

I was about to let the issue drop and agree with him, but he stopped me, cocking a brow.

"What’s wrong, Melas? Do you have a problem with this plan?" he asked, not bothering to mask his distrust of me.

I studied his expression for a moment, before shrugging helplessly. "Other than not wanting to make enemies of a continent-wide organization of spellcasters and get them coming after us? Not really."

I had already done that to myself by killing Victor, but Ginah’s Crew had never clashed with them before; it was in their best interest to do as little damage to their men or never be discovered for their actions tonight so as to remain under the Dark Crusaders’ radar.

Kai exchanged a look with the other two pirates with him, before turning back to me. "Well, as long as it’s just that, then I believe we can proceed." He then stalked off, heading down a set of stairs going to the room with the pot stills lined up in rows.

"I never said anything otherwise," I muttered under my breath as I followed after him.

We proceeded through the darkness in silence, slowly making our approach to the room where the meeting was taking place. A dim light leaked through the crack under the closed door, and Kai stopped us from approaching it. He gestured for us to hug the wall, and we did so without a word.

The wall of the room was thick; it was made out of solid bricks, allowing little sound to escape from the other side. But the door, however, was not as effective at sound dampening. I inched slightly closer to the door, earning a glare from Kai, but I ignored him.

I could be stealthy— I knew how to be stealthy. That was how I survived so far. So I took another step.

My ears perked up as I managed to make out a few of the muffled words they were saying, and I stopped.

"...it will work," a Human man’s voice said.

There was a brief pause, before a reply came. I recognized the accent and intonation to belong to that of a Goblin. "And that’s despite your failures? Or did you not think we’d have heard of what happened with those ships."

The Humans gave a babble of excuses— none of which I could hear since they barely mumbled it out. The Goblin snapped back.

"Betrayed. That’s what happened. And do you know why that happens? Because you were too weak. You weren’t strong enough. No— Bahr isn’t strong enough. He decided to pursue his own goals, and now he’s asking us to help him? Ridiculous."

"But Disciple—" someone started, but was immediately cut off.

"What was that?" a voice— a different one, not a Goblin or Human— hissed.

My eyes snapped over in the direction of Braz, whom I saw was trying to walk up to me, reaching over to tap my shoulder. He was right behind me, and while I did not hear anything, someone in the room did.

Braz froze as I tensed. I lowered a hand down, clutching my dagger tightly. The discussion in the room had fully halted, while Jack, Braz, Kai, Vinnie, and Elda prepared themselves. My heart began to race as a slow and steady footstep approached the door. The wooden door creaked open and a man’s face peaked out.

"Who’s there—"

And a beam of energy went through his skull. Kai lowered his rifle, signalling at us to move. Jack drew his two short swords as Braz grabbed for his cutlass. Vinnie readied his pistol and Elda held out multiple throwing daggers in both her hands.

I glanced rapidly between the door and my allies, biting my tongue down. I sighed. This isn’t going to go well no matter what happens, isn’t it?

Before anyone else could move, I leapt across the door, sticking a hand out. The yellow spell circle finished forming, and the Force Bindings shot out. It came at a Goblin and two other figures, but the Goblin rolled out of the way. The two figures weren’t so lucky.

They shouted as the snare wrapped around them, keeping them in place while the Goblin dashed forward raising a hand. I grinned for just a moment, until I saw the spell finish forming in the Goblin’s hand. My eyes widened as I recognized the red magic circle.

A Fireball flew in my direction and I leapt to the side, ducking behind the wall. The wall exploded as I barely formed a Force Barrier in time, knocking me back as my magical shield slowly fell apart around me. I got up in a daze, as I stumbled behind a pot still to hide behind.

I placed a hand on its copper surface, stabilizing myself for just a moment. The loud ringing in my ears slowly went away and was replaced by the sound of fighting. Once I got my bearings, I stuck my head out to survey the battlefield.

It was no longer dark as light shone out of the mana lamps in the storage room, while small pockets of flame on the wall and the floor slowly snuffed out with nothing burnable to consume. I saw Jack locked in combat with two Goblins and a Human man. The Goblins used simple spells— nothing as powerful as the first one I saw, but it was still dangerous. The Human was dispatched off quickly by Jack.

I turned to Braz, Elda, and Vinnie who were surrounding the Goblin Dark Acolyte that attacked me. He was casting multiple spells at once, keeping them back as they kept him in range. Braz tried stepping in for a thrust of his cutlass, but was thrown back by a blue splash of energy— a Force Wave.

I grimaced, choosing not to help them as I hurriedly looked around the room. Where’s Kai? He was clearly a support fighter— but he was nowhere to be seen. I spun around, scanning the area for him, before I saw a flash of bright light followed by a bang.

Kai was backing up as a group of Humans, a Goblin, and another Humanoid figure as they encroached on him. He lowered his rifle, having killed another Goblin, before the first Human reached him. I reacted instantly.

Magic Missiles shot out of both of my hands. I did not stop with just two, and sent four. Then six. I sent a dozen total, and they exploded around Kai.

Three of the Humans and the last Goblin managed to get out of the way, but the rest were incapacitated or killed by the barrage of blasts. I stopped the attacks for a moment, preparing a Frost Javelin. The air turned white as the icy projectile slowly took shape, but before I could do anything with it, I saw the air ripple ahead of me.

A Wind Blade shot out at me as the Humanoid ran in my direction. I froze for a moment as the man barked out an order.

"I’ll deal with the spellcaster— take care of the man!" he growled.

There was a Dog Beastkin spellcaster? I stared in shock for a moment, before I erected an earthen wall in front of me. Concrete split open and mixed together with stone and dirt as it shot out of the ground, protecting me from the Wind Blade.

I raised both my hands, spell circles already forming on it as more of the floor broke apart to create two Stone Spears by my side. I could not see where the man went, but I knew roughly where he was. So that was where I launched the Stone Spears at.

I heard a loud crack as the first one smashed into the back wall. The second went flying right behind it, but there was no sound. Or rather, there was only the sound of bits of rocks crumbling and falling onto the floor. I felt my control over the spell dissipate and frowned. Dispel Magic?

I was not prepared for that, so I barely put up any resistance. However, I was not going to make the same mistake again.

I dashed out of my cover, one hand held forward as a Force Barrier formed and another pre-casting the three balls of purple energy I was used to having on me. The Dog Beastkin pointed, casting another Dispel Magic. I immediately let go of my Force Barrier, leaving only the Explosive Orbs around me.

They blinked out of existence instantly. Of course they would. That was the weakness of pre-casting. And yet, I planned for that.

As he dispelled my Explosive Orbs, I pushed off my back feet, charging him and aimed a finger at the ground on his feet. A column of the floor rapidly rose up, crashing into the ceiling. The Dog Beastkin was lifted into the air for a moment, but dove off the Stone Pillar just in time to save himself.

He landed lithely on both feet just in time to duck from the Wind Blade. Finally reaching him, I held my dagger high before bringing it down to his face with all my strength. He tried to parry it with his claws, but yelped as it came into contact with my enchanted blade.

The Dog Beastkin stepped back, his finger bleeding on one hand, as he brought his other up. The air rippled once again, but instead of a thin line of wind coming at me, I saw a flicker as the air compressed into a bullet and shot out at me.

I stepped to the left, barely craning my neck out of the way as it whizzed by me. It grazed my mask, leaving a scratch on its surface as it continued its course. I nearly died!

I snapped my head back in the direction of the Dog Beastkin and stared at him in anger as he fired more Compressed Air Bullets at me; I raised both my arms to the side, pivoting out of the way— this time, prepared for the fast moving projectiles. Then, the Dog Beastkin paused as he realized what I was casting.

I held two Fireballs, one one each hand, as I stood before him.

"Dispel—" he started, but was too slow.

I threw the first one at him, followed immediately by the second. He tried to dodge, but I didn’t even need to hit him. The first Fireball exploded near him, the impact burning his right side and causing him to stagger. And he couldn’t even move before the second one engulfed him in an explosion.

I waited just to confirm that he was dead. Once I saw his burnt and blackened corpse, I turned my attention to Kai—

And he was standing over the dead bodies of the Goblins and Humans. I turned to Jack, and saw he was aiding Braz and Elda… Vinnie was dead.

The Dark Acolyte Goblin had killed Vinnie, and incapacitated Elda. He held a whip made of flames, lashing it out at Jack and Braz. Braz was struck across the chest, falling down. It was just Jack now. The rugged man tried to close the distance, spinning with his dual blades.

The Goblin parried the first swing with his own shortsword, and sidestepped the second. He let his whip disappear, and sent a Flame Wall at Jack’s back. Jack barely dodged the attack, spinning around just to see the Goblin lowering a blade at him—

The blade shattered. Shot mid strike by Kai. The Goblin snarled, kicking Jack away from him as he turned to the new attacker. But Kai was not alone.

My Frost Javelin was already soaring at the Dark Acolyte Goblin. He backed up, moving out of the way, but I only adjusted its course. I felt him contest my control over the spell, and yet it was a fool’s errand. He failed, and it came close to impaling him.

He stopped just before a wall, before leaping out of the way at the last second. I clicked my tongue, more annoyed than anything that I let that happen.

Kai fired another shot, interrupting the Goblin just before he could cast another spell. I raised my finger into the shape of a gun, and closing one eye, I trailed the Goblin as he continued dodging the suppressing fire.

He jumped, rolled, and got back up and I pushed at the air right behind him. A green magic circle appeared, slowly expanding from the size of the palm of my hand to the size of my head. It took the Goblin a moment from noticing it.

It was too late. There was no way he could dodge this attack. He was—

Fire flared at the Dark Acolyte Goblin’s feet, and he kicked himself up into the air. He flew 20 feet high without any difficulty.

The air around my spell circle burst out, sending blades of wind out in all directions. But it was pointless. The Goblin was sailing close to the ceiling, far from my new spell. And then there was a bang and he went falling.

Kai had shot him mid air. It only struck him in the shoulder, yet that was enough. That was the power of his special mana rifle.

The Goblin was tumbling back down, blood already spurting out of his wound. Just as he was about to crash into the ground, I sent a snare at him, wrapping it around him and softening his fall.

The Force Bindings crackled as it came into contact with the ground, but it absorbed the impact. He struggled on the floor, cursing, but he couldn’t dispel it. I did not allow him.

I started in the Goblin’s direction, reaching for my belt. I uncorked a healing potion as I reached him. I was about to pour it but was cut off by Kai.

"What are you doing?" he asked me, frowning.

"Keeping him alive," I said, gesturing at the Goblin. "He’s a Dark Acolyte. If we kill him, the Dark Crusaders will not be happy."

"We’ve already killed the rest. Keeping him alive is a risk. He killed Vinnie— and he could’ve killed Braz and Elda too."

I glanced over the two other pirates. Jack was dragging himself over to them, pulling out his own healing potion. I turned back to Kai.

"I know." I shook my head. "But that doesn’t matter. If—"

"Keep me alive?" the Goblin spoke over me. He glared up at me. "You’ve killed my apprentice. You killed Li Min. We’ll never forgive you for this!"

I stared back down at the Goblin— at his large yellow eyes. He was bleeding out. It was slow, not a danger to his life right now, but I probably should administer a healing potion to him soon if I wanted to keep him alive.

Kai spoke up as I debated on whether to let him live or kill him. "He’s a liability, Melas. If we keep him alive and he escapes, the Dark Crusaders will know more than they would if we just kill him and leave now."

"But—" I was about to argue, but was stopped as the Goblin’s eyes snapped towards me.

"Melas?" he said, disbelieving at first. Then his tone shifted to that of anger, holding no hidden fury in his voice. "You’re the F—"

The Goblin stopped talking. He collapsed to the ground, grasping weakly at his throat before he fell dead. I lowered my hand, as the spell circle for Wind Blade dissipated.

Kai cocked a brow. "What was that about? You sure made your decision quick."

I sighed. "You made a really convincing argument," I said. "Anyway, let’s help the others and find this enuim."

Once Jack, Braz, and Elda recovered, we took a moment to pay our respects to the dead Vinnie. Well, Jack and I just stood there awkwardly as Kai, Braz, and Elda did. The two of us barely knew the man, and had nothing to add to the scene.

After that, Braz suggested we bring the body back with us, which prompted a discussion whether that was a good idea. I had already paid my respects, so I walked away from the conversation, choosing to enter the now blown-open storage room.

I stepped over the dead bodies of a few Goblins, and paused for a moment.

They were all dead. The Dark Crusaders were dead, and so were the members of the Elise. I stared down at the corpses of the Goblins hesitatingly. I thought I would have seen the face of Karna or Ihsan overlaid on top of them, but I did not.

And I felt the same thing about the Dog Beastkin. I did not one think of Shang or the other Beastkin slaves when I fought him. They were just… people.

People who were trying to kill me, just as I was trying to kill them. It was a terrible situation I found myself in, but I could not just allow them to do what they were doing. Or perhaps I could.

However, would I want to live knowing I allowed such atrocities to happen when I could prevent it? And it was not like I had nothing to gain from doing this— I was getting myself a free boat ride straight to the Taw Kingdom. I was in no rush, and I saved my money this way. It was for the best… if I thought lives were worth less than gold.

Shaking my head, I stepped away from the bodies. My biggest concern right now should not be the morality of my actions, but it should be whether or not the Dark Crusaders would somehow know that I did this. I knew not of one, but there probably was a spell that could link this all back to me. And if they did...

I felt my lips drawing into a thin line. Suffice to say, they probably want me as dead as the Church does now.

I glanced around the room, letting those feelings of dread sink to the back of my mind. I searched around behind broken crates and barrels for a minute, before I found what I was looking for.

"Guys," I called out once they had finished their discussion. "There’s a trapdoor here."

They came quickly towards me, with Braz carrying the dead Vinnie around his shoulders. "This the entrance to their enuim production lab?" he asked.

"I don’t know. Maybe?" I shrugged.

"Only one way to find out," Kai said, pulling the door open.

He was the first one to enter, followed by myself and the others. We walked down a short stairway, before finding ourselves in a large room

It was a laboratory; there were beakers, vials, test tubes— all full of liquid— spread throughout the room. It was even more massive and colorful than the Alchemist shop I broke into back in the Free Lands. I had never seen anything like it in my life.

Kai ignored all the vibrant substances, and approached a stack of wooden crates in the corner of the room. He used his rifle to open the lip, revealing hundreds of gray packets tied together by a stringle. He untied it, and spoke to us.

"This is it."

"So, this is the enuim," I said, looking down at the blue-white power. It was not like the small dust-like particles that I had expected it to be when I first learned it was a powdered drug. They were large clumps of powder, that didn’t break into smaller parts even when I poked at it. "How do people even use these things?" I asked curiously. "Do you eat them or something?"

"You don’t consume them in this state," Kai explained. "You mix it with a liquid— any liquid, but preferably water— and you boil it. Then you inhale it."

"And it was prescribed as a medicine for the Noxeus?"

"Yes," he said, turning away from the drugs in disgust. "They told them it would cure the body from the inside, starting from the lungs. And people believed it because it muted your pain receptors— it’d make you think you were feeling better. I don’t understand why anyone would bring it over to this continent, let alone our country. It’s just so…"

"Terrible?" I suggested.

He snorted. "That’s one word for it.

Shrugging, I looked back at the boxes of enuim, lining the sides of the room. "Well, that’s not going to be a problem anymore since"— I pointed a finger, and a sphere of flames slowly came into existence— "we’re destroying it all."

And the Fireball exploded.

It took us almost two hours before we returned to the docks. Lisa was there waiting for us, and ran to us.

"What happened? Did you guys manage to do it?" she asked, showing genuine worry in her voice as she inspected Jack. "You’re hurt! You were—"

"I’m fine," he said, then gestured behind him. "And we succeeded. Just look."

The young woman raised an eyebrow. "I don’t see anything." She narrowed her eyes, looking in the direction we came from.

I piped up from the side. "That’s because it’s dark and cloudy. You can’t see the smoke billowing up in the distance."

"But shouldn’t there at least be a fire?" She gave me a confused look.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "We only destroyed the enuim. Nothing else. We want to leave the Elise a message."

"And the message is clear," Kai added, stepping onto the boat. "They’re not getting any more allies, and they aren't going to be ruining peoples’ lives anymore."

"What does that mean?" Lisa asked, frowning.

"It means exactly that— we’ll be doing a lot more of these raids in the next few weeks."

Chapter 32: Thoughts and Actions

For the next few weeks, I continued to aid Ginah’s Crew in carrying out systematic strikes against the Elise; we specifically targeted only their enuim depots. Or at least, I only took part in those attacks.

I was pretty sure Ginah’s Crew did other such strikes against them, but I took no part in those. I was concerned with one thing and one thing only— as per my deal with them.

Unlike our initial strike however, we did not carry out similar scorched earth tactics where we left no one alive; that would simply be cruel. That was done to sever the potential for alliance between the Dark Crusaders and the Elise before anything substantive came from it. And so far, it appeared to have worked.

Our attacks now were short, and much less bloody. Without any spellcasters to combat, I did not have to use my magic either. We often let those who wanted to flee, flee. And we even spared most of those who stayed to fight.

"You—"

The thug swung his axe at me, and I barely ducked under the swing. I brought my dagger low, slicing at his feet as I pivoted to his back. He jerked, but even that did not elicit a scream. He turned back to face me, his face burning red, and the veins in his pupil bulging… blue?

That was right. It was one of the side effects of the enuim; that was how you knew someone was taking them. Another indication that someone was high on the drug was their incredible pain tolerance. Which was why he was still standing even after I had cut his legs open.

"Listen," I said, trying to project my voice as assertively as possible. "Put down your weapon—"

"Give it back!" he screamed, charging at me once more.

I rolled out of the way of his attack. I was exasperated; the enuim supposedly also put you in a state of mind where you were more likely to agree with others. So why wasn’t it working?

He whirled around, bringing his axe down wildly at me. I stepped into his attack, slashing at his arms. He could not feel pain, but his body— his muscles— were unchanged.

The thug dropped his axe as I went to knee him down below. He barely even registered the hit, and grabbed for me with his remaining good arm. I pushed at him— trying to get him off me. And I managed to do that, just in time for Braz to reach him.

"I got you!" The pirate grabbed the thug by the neck, and pinned him to the ground, choking him out. Sighing, I watched as the thug finally passed out after squirming on the ground for a good five minutes.

I cleaned my dagger of the blood on it, before sheathing at my waist. "Thanks Braz," I said, nodding gratefully at him as he shot me a thumbs up. "I was worried I’d have no choice but to kill him for a moment."

"Well, we wouldn’t want that would we? Good thing I was here to save the day!"

I rolled my eyes, but he just chuckled. He picked up the unconscious thug, and began bringing him out of the room. I headed for another already-open door, and paused just outside of it to assess the situation inside. It was empty, save for Kai with his face mask.

"Where are the others?" I asked, stepping in. "And where’s all the fighting?"

"Taken care of," he said, glancing at me briefly. "I sent Elda to escort them out, as well as drag their unconscious friends away."

"And you only sent Braz to help me?"

"No." He shook his head. "He went to help you of his own volition."

I frowned. So he still doesn’t trust me, huh? Not that it mattered to me— beyond possibly endangering my life. It was something I probably had to bring up to Ginah later, but for now, I focused on the task at hand.

"And this is the last of the enuim in this area?"

"That we know of." He stopped pouring the oil over the crates of drugs. It wasn’t just the enuim, but a mixture of it— or at least, that was what I saw earlier. Now, it was just the enuim.

"You know," I said, deciding not to comment on that. "I was told the enuim made you listen to others. Think less clearly, and more like a child following their parents’ words."

He took out a lighter, producing a small flame. "That is correct."

"So why did that thug keep coming at me even when I kept telling him to stop and leave with his life?" I folded my arms.

Without warning, Kai casually tossed the lighter into the oil, and fire plumed out. Then it started burning the wooden crates and barrels, quickly spreading across the room. He started walking off, as I followed behind him.

"As a member of the Elise, he probably had been warned there might be an attack in this area. He would not want you to take away his free supply of it, and the enuim is addictive. It makes you want more of it. Whereas it simply makes you more open to suggestions by others. So your suggestions lost out to his wants— or what he views as needs."

The fire continued to spread at our backs, slowly engulfing the rest of the room. The walls, however, were made of stone and concrete. It was not nearly a large enough fire to destroy the entire factory, or even a section of it.

We were an hour outside of Luke. The amount of time it would have taken any city guards or reinforcements from the Elise was far too long. And it was not like we were trying to burn the entire building down.

It was in hopes that the Elise would have the factory resume its daily business to maintain an air of normalcy, so the workers would not be out of jobs. After all, an entire factory shutting down after a minor arson in only three of their rooms would arouse suspicion. Sure, they had the underground of the city mostly under their control, but this was the Capital city of Laxis. Even if the King fled years ago, law enforcement officials still existed. They were not fully corrupt just yet.

We returned to the cove a few hours later; there were very few complications besides treating the people we injured too grievously. We did not bring back any captives— Ginah’s Crew could barely sustain itself, let alone dozens of additional prisoners. Plus, they did not want to torture anyone for information.

It was… odd.

I would have expected them to do that, but they didn’t do it out of their own choice and not any objections I raised. In fact, I was not too sure whether I’d have raised any objections in the first place. I would be vehemently opposed any form of unnecessary torture, but if it was absolutely necessary, I began to feel more uncertain.

Perhaps I’d have opposed it, or perhaps I would not.

Luckily for me, it was not a bridge I had to cross since these were noble pirates. It was relieving knowing that I wasn’t working with evil people. Morally ambiguous? Sure. But I had been thorough, and I was certain none of the pirates were secretly evil like Victor was.

Key word being ‘pirates’, I thought, as I caught a glimpse of Lisa in the crowd.

Jack had not come with us, and instead accompanied his partner who had also just returned from a separate mission; we had come back after midnight, so there were very few people around.

The duo had not been exactly acting suspicious, and they were in fact helping out where they could. Lisa was always in charge of the intel and the logistics of the two, so she would gather information in the city to help us plan our attacks like she did today while we were out. In fact, our recent attack at the textile factory was based on Lisa’s help.

I was not sure how I felt about that fact since I wasn’t able to follow her on many of those information gathering trips; I could not tell if she was scheming against us, or actually aiding us. But still, if she wanted to betray us to the Elise, she could’ve done it many times by laying a trap— like when Ginah, myself, Kai, and Braz all coordinated a hit on one of the Elise’s smuggling ships for the enuim. Yet she did not.

Actions spoke louder than words: Lisa was a liar, but so far she did not seem to be a traitor. And why should she betray Ginah’s Crew or Jack? Ginah’s Crew had been one of her allies for years, while Jack was her partner from the very beginning— and that was not mentioning her own personal relationship with him.

However, all those were reasons for Jack or Ginah to trust her. I had no reason to trust Lisa. And that was why I still held my reservations about her.

I ignored her for now though, and turned my attention to the Dwarf and the young man approaching me.

"Yer back, lass," Gennady said, holding up a mug of beer. He burped loudly, before wiping the foam off his beard. "Glad to see ya fine." He tried to reach in for a hug, but I pushed him back.

"You smell." I pressed my mask against my face to ease the stench, and spoke in a muffled voice. "How much have you been drinking?"

"Far too much," Sevin piped up from beside him. "I’ve been trying to get Master Gennady to stop, but he doesn’t listen."

"Oh come on, this ain’t half as much as what I can drink." The Dwarf smacked me across the back. He took a large gulp from the mug, before lowering it and grinning. "And we're celebrating! Sevin has just made his first original mana tool! He’s been working on it for weeks now, y’know? So come on, drink!"

He tried offering it to Sevin who politely declined, before turning to me and stopping himself as I indicated at my mask.

"Fine, if no one wants it, more for me!"

Gennady downed the last of his beer, as I looked over at Sevin.

"You’re finished with your pistol?" I asked, cocking my head.

He nodded excitedly. "Yes— although it’s not just a pistol. I designed it so you can fire two kinds of bolts. The first is nonlethal. It’s supposed to stun you. The second fires mana bullets. It’s slightly stronger than regular ones, but nothing too impressive. It probably pierces as well as or slightly better than a crossbow bolt."

"That’s… amazing!" I said, staring at the young man.

I felt rather embarrassed about not having produced anything notable just yet. Sure, Sevin had been tinkering for far longer than me, but I should have been able to make more than just a simple lighter— which was my greatest creation so far.

And yet, I still felt a flush of pride for his achievement. Because it was an achievement. He had made something he could call his own, and that was something to be praised.

Sevin eagerly reached for his belt. "It really is! Although some people"— he glanced over at the drunk Gennady— "think it’s mediocre."

"And that’s because it is," the Dwarf said simply. I glared at him as Sevin sighed, but he just shrugged. "Listen lad, I think it’s good that you’ve made your own mana tool, but it’s nothing groundbreaking. Maybe if you designed it so you can just flip a switch to alternate between lethal and nonlethal, I’d say it’s good. But the fact that you have to manually change mana crystals to do that makes it too inefficient for me to say it’s anything beyond ‘alright’."

"Manually switch mana crystals?" I looked between the two in confusion.

Sevin shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "You have to, uh, swap out mana crystals to use the different types of bolts." He held up the pistol, and gestured at the small recess where the mana crystal was supposed to go. "If you put an Inferior mana crystal here, the pistol will shoot out stunning bolts. But if you put a Lesser mana crystal in there, it will fire a regular bolt."

"Wait, you can do that?" I frowned.

"‘Course," Gennady snorted. "Why wouldn’t you be able to do that? A Lesser mana crystal would be able to provide more mana for the bolt, making it more deadly since that’s how this gun in specific is designed."

"And that works too if you put a Superior mana crystal in it?"

"I wouldn’t do that, but you can. It’d be a waste of a Superior mana crystal. As far as this pistol goes, the power of the bolts increase at a decreasing rate. It’d be more deadly, sure, but it wouldn’t be worth it."

Sevin scratched the back of his head as he added, "Yeah, it isn’t too… good. But it’s something I made, at least." I pursed my lips as I noticed his face fall a little bit.

I reached for the pistol, and he let me take it. I inspected it for a moment, before turning back to him. "I think it’s great," I said. "And ignore Gennady, he’s drunk so he’s being more insensitive than usual."

"Huh? I’m not drunk!" the Dwarf sputtered, but I ignored him.

"So I can just use any Lesser or Inferior mana crystal, and it works?"

"No," Sevin said. He fumbled for his belt pouched, holding out a handful of shards of mana crystals. "You have to use these ones. If they run out, I’ll have to make more. But it only works because the runes on the mana crystals connect with the runs in the hole here, see?"

I carefully listened to the young man as he explained. When he was finished, I looked back up to him and nodded.

"Alright. I’ll buy this from you?"

"You— what?"

He stared at me in shock, but I just reassured him.

"Look, I was thinking about this earlier today. I need a way to fight in a way that doesn’t kill someone. And this gun’s stun bolts are perfect for me."

"No— but…" he protested. I simply waved a hand nonchalantly.

"Whatever price you name, I’ll pay for it. And I’ll pay for the mana crystals as well."

Sevin slowly worked his mouth. "Err… maybe 10— 12 gold?"

"Done," I said, grabbing a handful of gold coins and handing it to him. I was not sure if that was a good price— in fact, I felt like that was rather cheap. However, whether or not he was ripping himself off was none of my concern; he named his price, and I paid for it.

I held up the gun, aiming it in the direction of the rock wall and firing a few shots.

"So with this Inferior mana crystal in, it won’t be able to kill anyone, right?"

"Yes. Just make sure to delicately control the mana inside of it when you switch between Lesser or Inferior mana crystals. You don’t want to accidentally push the mana too hard when you’re using the Inferior, like you would with the Lesser."

"Right," I said, "don’t want it to blow up on me."

"It’s not going to blow up on ya, lass," Gennady chimed in from the side, having gotten himself another drink. "I taught the lad how to make it so it won’t explode if you destabilize the mana crystal. Real Tinkerers design all their tools with that in mind. All of my weapons have that safety precaution on them. He’s a fast learner, unlike you."

"I’ve been busy." I scowled.

"Excuses, excuses."

I rolled my eyes, focusing back on the topic at hand.

"So what happens instead?" I asked.

"Nothing," Sevin said. "Or at least, it’s not supposed to do anything."

"It’s not going to fire some sort of supercharged bolt, is it?" I looked dubiously at him. But he quickly brought two hands out placatingly.

"It can happen, but that bolt itself wouldn’t be very… stable. I wouldn’t trust using a weapon like that that can blow up in my face. And once again, it won’t be incredibly powerful. Maybe it’d be more powerful than the regular bolt fired with a Lesser mana crystal? But it’s not worth it since it will destroy your mana crystal."

"Hah." Gennady folded his arms, gaining a look from me. "That shows you’re still inexperienced, Sevin. Tinkerers have to be open minded. They have to expect their weapons to blow up in their face if they want to improve."

"So if I accidentally destabilize the mana crystal in one of your weapons, it won’t explode on me, it would just fire something that could explode on me," I said, voice flat.

He held out a finger smugly. "Or it could just fizzle out. Or it could do something completely unexpected. Or it could just waste a mana crystal, doing absolutely nothing."

"I take it this is a last resort sort of thing?"

"‘Course," Gennady said, confident as ever.

"Well, I don’t want to test my luck— I don’t have good luck." I sighed, lowering the pistol. Turning to Sevin, I addressed the young man. "Thanks for this. I’ll probably be using it a lot, so keep making mana crystals, and I’ll buy them."

"And I can teach you how to make them too," Sevin quickly said.

"Sure. But tomorrow. I need to grab a bite to eat, then rest."

I bade farewell to the two of them, going to the dining area. It was a wooden building that could fit about 30 people all at once, and rummaged through the boxes for any dried food to eat. Their cook was asleep, but there was a pot of stew left in the open, so I grabbed some of that along with some dried meats before heading back to the ship. I never made it there, however, as I was intercepted by Braz.

"Yo!" He waved a hand cheerfully at me.

"Hello," I said, nodding my head at him before trying to sidle around him. "If you’ll excuse me, I have to go—"

"Nope," he cut me off. "The Captain wants to speak with you. And me. It’s important or something."

I sighed. Well that’s just great.

I said farewell to my delicious meal, before following after the man.

"Melas," Ginah greeted me as I entered the door. "Sorry for calling you over so late, especially after you had a long day of fighting."

"It’s fine," I lied. I glanced over at Lisa and Jack standing in the corner of the room, then to Kai was who was standing across the table from Ginah. "What’s wrong?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Nothings wrong— sheesh, why are you always so uptight?" The pirate Captain rested her hand on her forehead. "If anything, you should be asking what is right, because we have news from Lisa."

News? I cocked my head, but refrained from speaking.

"She told us that our attacks on the Elise have actually been working. So good job to you, Kai, and Braz."

"No probs!" Braz flexed an arm casually.

Kai and I sighed simultaneously, but did not remark on it. Ginah continued.

"In fact, our attacks have been working so well, we’ve drawn out the Half Elf himself: Bahr."

My head snapped to Ginah. "What?"

"Yes," she said. "Bahr himself will be overseeing the arrival of his next supply of enuim reaches the docks of Luke without any trouble. This presents for us a perfect opportunity."

"You want to cut the snake off at the head."

"Correct."

"I…" I turned from face to face, meeting everyone’s stare. I paused for a moment at Lisa. Is this a trap? I thought. But I shook that thought out of my mind. Figure out what’s happening first, before judging.

"So what are we doing?" I asked.

"Right now? Nothing." Ginah crossed her arms over her chest. "We’re not going to begin our plan until we know whether you’ll be joining us or not."

I frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Kai has told me a lot about you, Melas," she said, and I felt my heart jump for a moment. Panicked thoughts crossed my mind for a moment… until she continued. "He told me that he thinks you’re reliable. Trustworthy."

"...what?"

Kai straightened, then nodded in my direction. "I’ve seen you fight, Melas. You fought the Dark Crusaders without hesitation, and you’ve also helped us against the Elise. If you haven’t betrayed us so far, I have no reason to believe you’d betray us now. And against Bahr— a Dark Acolyte Apostle— we need every help we can get. Especially from a spellcaster like you."

I paused. Wait, so he trusts me? I had assumed he didn’t. I thought he was still skeptical of me, but apparently he wasn’t. So the reason why he didn’t send anyone to help me earlier was because he thought I could take care of myself? Was that it? I frowned, but another, more important question pervaded my mind.

"So you guys just called me here to ask me whether I’ll help you out on this?"

The two of them just nodded.

I considered it for a second, thinking about the consequences of my actions. If I did this, I once again went directly against the Dark Crusaders. It was a dangerous thing; they were an incredibly powerful group. And yet, I had made a decision like this before, so I answered with certainty.

"Of course I’m in."

"Good," Ginah said. "It’s late, so you can go get your rest. We just needed to get confirmation so we can start planning."

"...that was it? I can leave now?" I felt my nudging me to quickly go, but I had to make sure.

"Yep," she confirmed, and turned to Jack and Lisa. "You two, too. You could’ve left earlier, you know?"

Lisa just shrugged. "I wanted to see what she had to say, that’s all."

"And I was waiting for Lisa," Jack grunted.

"Alright then," I said, slowly backing out of the room. I pointed a thumb behind me. "I’ll just leave now…?"

I waited for a moment, and when no one stopped me, I quickly left the room. I started back to where I left my food, feeling triumphant that I could not only finally eat my di— supper— but also possibly get to the Taw Kingdom sooner than I thought.

I was just gathering my food, before Braz interrupted me… again.

"Melas," he said, striding up to me. "You sure about this?"

Sighing, I lowered the bowl of stew back down to the table. "Why wouldn’t I?"

He hopped up onto the table and sat on it. He patted on the wooden surface, indicating for me to join him, and I did it begrudgingly.

"They were giving you a choice, you do realize that, right?" He cocked an eyebrow. "You don’t have to do this. You’ve already helped us enough."

"My deal with Ginah was to help her halt this enuim trade."

"But this goes above and beyond that," Braz said. "You’d be helping us in severing the head of the Elise, not just stopping the spreading of these drugs."

I wanted to answer sardonically, but I paused. I looked at Braz curiously— this was the most serious I had ever seen him before. He usually was goofy and laid back.

I spoke slowly. "But that’d be achieving the same results, no?"

"But you’ll be doing more than just that." He shook his head. "Goddess grace us. If we kill Bahr, the entire underground of Luke will explode into chaos. There’ll be many different factions clambering to fill the spot he left behind. It’d be a warzone."

"That’ll be your guys’ problem," I said simply. "You guys caused it, so you’ll have to fix it."

"Of course Ginah wants us to help calm things down. Make things return back to normal like before the Elise popped up. Maybe even make things better. But… that’s too much, don’t you think?"

I shrugged. "I don’t know."

"Haven’t you put any thought into it at all?" Braz asked. "Ginah has been stressed about what will happen once— or if— we actually win against the Elise. And I have too."

"I have no reason to," I said. I turned to face the man. "That’s your guys’ problem, isn’t it? I agreed to help put an end to a problem, not to fix the other problems that will appear once that problem is gone. If I did that, I’d be stuck here forever."

"So you’re just going to help us kill this Bahr, and then you’re gone?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Isn’t that thoughtless?"

I felt my lips drawing into a thin line. "What do you mean?"

"You’re just acting without any care in the world if you do that, aren’t you?" he said. "That’s thoughtless."

"How exactly am I being thoughtless?"

"You’re joining a fight that doesn’t affect you in any way. And what do you have to gain? A free trip across the sea? It doesn’t sound like it’s worth it."

"It’s worth it to me," I said. "And don’t act like it doesn’t affect me. It does."

"How?" Braz asked, his gaze boring into me. "How has the Elise affected you? What have they done to you?"

"Done to me? Nothing." I brought a hand up, stopping him from responding as I added. "However, I hate them. Or that Half Elf, at least. He’s detestable. True scum. And that’s one of the reasons why I chose to join in."

The man cocked his head at me. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"He’s a terrible person, Braz," I said. "He takes advantage of weak people. People who are desperate. People who just want to live better lives. Why should I not hate him?"

He frowned, folding his arms across his bare chest. "But it doesn’t matter to you, does it? Whatever happens to these people— they’re just one of the many bad things happening in this world."

I stared at the man, slightly aghast. Slowly, that feeling turned into annoyance. It was so obvious. Why was he asking such a question? I bit back any venom I had, and simply answered the question.

"Because it’s happening right in front of me, and I can do something about it. There’s a difference between a tragedy happening a thousand miles away, and a tragedy happening in front of my eyes."

"And what is that difference?"

My eyes flickered up, meeting his gaze. "I’d feel terrible if I don’t."

He simply sat there, waiting; when it became clear I had nothing else to say, he placed a hand on his chin and nodded. "Makes sense."

"Of course it does," I said, sighing. "I’m not being irrational. I’ve thought this through."

"You’re right," he agreed, almost too happily.

"I just want to survive, but I will help people when I can."

"Totally rational!"

I pursed my lips. "You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?"

Braz gave me a blank look. "Why would you think that?"

I shook my head, exasperated. "Look," I said, no longer hiding the dissatisfaction in my voice, "if there’s anything wrong with my logic— with my philosophy— explain it to me. Don’t just mock me."

He paused, considering it for a moment. Then, he leaned forward, losing his laid back posture as he looked at me curiously.

"So you want to survive?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"But you want to help those you can?"

"Yes— and stop repeating what I just said."

Braz ignored that comment. "And to do that, you put your life in danger… which significantly decreases your chance of survival. And that’s counterintuitive, no?"

I stared at him for a moment, processing what he had said. He had more depth than I thought. Since when was Braz more than just the friendly, goofy pirate? However, I was not trapped. I did not hesitate before giving my reply.

"That’s only if I charge headfirst into a situation with no context behind it. I judge them not by some general rule, but on a case by case basis," I explained. "I am strong. I could be stronger, but I know I’m already strong. If I assess a situation, and determine it’s too much for me to handle? I will not fight. I will not intervene, for my life is more important than my conscience. "

"But what if you assess it wrong?" he asked. "What if you think you can win— but you lose? And you lose your life."

"It’s a risk, but everything comes with risks, Braz," I said simply. It was not some esoteric way of thinking I was espousing; it was rather straightforward. "Leaving your house comes with a risk, for you can be attacked by a Monster and die. Eating food— any kind of food— comes with a risk, for you can get food poisoning and die. Even just talking to others— what happens if they have the Noxeus? You could catch it and die too.

"Helping others may not be the same as that, of course. I understand that there is a distinction between going about and living your day-to-day life, and saving a child from a burning building. But I was that child once— I was trapped. I needed someone to save me. And someone did come, however he did not save me. He only made me think he did, to get what he wanted. I was still surrounded by flames. I was still locked in that burning room. And I had to break myself out."

I looked away from Braz, and towards the cave opening into the night sky.

"I had to break myself out, but it wasn’t easy. So when I see someone else in that same burning room, I am compelled to break them out. It is as simple as that. And that’s the thought I’ve put behind this. That is why I do the things I do."

Braz paused, considering this. He looked away from me, at some far off thing, before turning back.

"You’re like a Saintess, aren’t you?"

I hesitated, chewing my lower lip. Saints and Saintesses were the equivalent of heroes and heroines in this world; the terms heroes and heroines existed, of course, but they were synonymous in concept.

I closed my eyes for a moment, blocking out all other sensations as I focused entirely on my answer.

"I am not a Saintess," I said.

I opened my eyes, then turned heavenward, facing the dark rock ceiling

"Saintesses— they dedicate their lives to others. They fight for the weak. They lift up the misfortuned. They save those who need to be saved. I don’t do any of that. I simply help those I can: that is the difference between me and a Saintess."

I cared not for others; I helped people for the sake of myself, not for them. It could be argued that all lives were equal— and perhaps a neutral third party could carry out this philosophy for others so easily. But to me, an interested party, it was different.

It sounded cruel to even think it, but I believed from the bottom of my heart that my life mattered more than the life of a stranger dying in the street. If I could somehow reverse our roles to save that stranger, I would never do it. I held my life above theirs specifically because it was mine.

Was it selfish? Was it narcissistic? Was it a self-centered worldview predicated on my egotistical desires?

Yes it was.

But I had died once. I had my life unfairly taken from me. And I had suffered a lot in the past year. It was not the worst thing to ever happen in this world, sure. However, to die so soon after all that, and without living a fulfilling life? I did not want that to happen.

So I lowered my gaze. I placed one hand over my chest, and spoke honestly.

"I do not care for others, Braz. I care only for myself. For my needs. For my wants. For my fears. That is why I’m doing this. That is why I hate those thugs at the Elise who would permeate the enuim throughout the city of Luke. That is why I hate that Bahr for being behind all this."

Braz just nodded, listening to me. I thought he would say something back— either revert to his usual self and make an unneeded comment, or ask me another infuriating question— but he didn’t. Instead, he spoke softly.

"I was like that once."

I cocked my head, confused, but otherwise said nothing.

"Before Ginah became my Captain. I served under her father. We did terrible things, Melas. Terrible, terrible things. And I was fine with it."

I froze; my mind flashed with all the possibilities, as I edged away from him. I instinctively reached for my dagger, but stopped myself.

‘...what do you mean?"

"I mean," he said slowly, "I was just as bad as this Bahr, one time. As wicked as you think he is. I partook in these terrible acts you’re probably thinking of right now, and I only changed once Ginah changed me."

I felt my perception of Braz slowly twist. I had always seen him as a goofball; someone who never took life seriously. But I realized now how obvious of a farce it was. I remembered seeing him passed out drunk many times since I came here, and I realized now why he did that.

"If I told you what I did and why I did it, would you ever forgive me?" he finally asked.

"I—" I bit my tongue, stopping the reply. "Why are you asking me this?"

He shrugged, finally getting up off the table.

"Just something for you to think about," he said. And with that, he left me alone.

I stared at his back as I watched him leave. I didn’t even realize I was tightly gripping the hilt of my dagger. I just sat there, unmoving.

Just for me to think about? I shook my head. Does he want me to give this Bahr a second chance or something?

I would not do that; I had been fooled into thinking that was possible before. And I did not personally know this Bahr. But there was no way he would have ever wanted to change. And even if f he wanted to change—

...would I let him go free?

I didn’t think so. I didn’t want to. How could someone who had committed such vile crimes wash his hands and walk away from it? But if he was willing to work to right all his wrongs, and spend the rest of his life repenting and dedicated to charity—

I stopped myself, as I realized Braz had achieved what he wanted to achieve. He wanted me to think about it. And that was what I was doing right now.

But I spent too much time thinking before. Thinking allowed others to suffer. So I pushed these thoughts aside, and focused on what I could do now. Maybe I would consider what Braz wanted me to think about later. For now, I acted.

Chapter 33: Ambush

The plan was simple. We were supposed to ambush Bahr in the docks of Luke. Not only was it going to be the most overt operation Ginah’s Crew was going to carry out thus far, but it was also going to be the most dangerous.

Bahr was apparently a powerful spellcaster from the Dark Crusaders— an Apostle. He was even more powerful than all previous Dark Acolytes I had met, as they were only Disciples. I should have been nervous; I thought I would be nervous. And yet, I was surprisingly calm.

The stage had already been set. The deal had already been struck. There was no backing away now that I was here. Even Braz’s words from a week ago barely hung in the back of my mind, for I knew what I was doing here was right.

The Elise was expecting a shipment of the enuim to be coming in tonight; we had been destroying all their alchemy labs, preventing them from producing more within the city, thus forcing them to rely only on an outside supply. So we had set a trap.

Ginah, Jack, Elda, Gennady, and some of Ginah’s Crew were to intercept that shipment before it reached the city. They would hijack it just beyond the docks, forcing whatever ships and men Bahr had with him to come to its aid. But that was only the bait.

Myself, Kai, Braz, and the remaining elite pirates were to sneak into the city before twilight, waiting in a safehouse Lisa had prearranged for us; she had a meeting with one of her last few available contacts just the other day, setting this up for us. I wasn’t sure whether I trusted her, but I had no reason not to.

All I had to do was keep an eye on her now. I would have preferred if Gennady went with me, but a Dwarf in a city of mostly Humans was rather conspicuous. So he wasn’t able to participate in this part of the plan.

I had worked without him plenty of times before in the past few weeks, and I had gotten accustomed to fighting alongside Kai. While I had thought he was distrustful of me the entire time, it seemed my assessment was incorrect: he trusted me. He believed I could take care of myself, and he even assigned me with one of the most important roles in the mission.

"You’re our only spellcaster," he said, back during our planning session. "We want you to stay at the back. Attack him from afar to draw his attention as we take out any stragglers that’s left behind him."

"And what happens if he zeroes in on me?" I asked, folding my arms.

"Don’t worry. Braz and a few others will stay behind with you." He gestured over at the grinning man, who shot me a thumbs up. I shifted uncomfortably, remembering his vague admission of guilt from the other day, but did not protest.

Ginah nodded. "We’ll already have him distracted by taking over his shipment of enuim by then. Maybe you could even take him out by surprise."

I don’t think it’ll be that easy, I thought, but did not voice my thoughts. She continued.

"Once he sends his entourage out on boats to deal with us, you will begin your attack. It doesn’t matter if Melas kills him or not— because you’ll have him surrounded by the time his men would even realize what’s going on to turn back. And if anything goes wrong, you can always return to the safehouse…"

But that was a few days ago. Now, we were entering the city of Luke; taking a boat had become dangerous, as the Elise probably would have had the docks secured for tonight, so we were going by land.

I poked my head out of the wagon, glancing around to see how far we were from the walls. It was still a distance away— about a few miles out. I slowly turned around to take in the view of the sea for just a moment, before inhaling a sharp breath.

"That’s… The Lightbringer’s Vessel!"

"It is," Kai said, still facing forward in the driver’s seat.

The single masted ship, which barely needed the aid of wind power, was sailing along the coast of Luke. It did not approach the docks, but it hovered dangerously around the vicinity of it— like a fly zipping around a rotten fruit before going in for a bite.

My mind instantly went to the worst case scenario as I looked over at Kai. "Did someone betray us?" I asked hurriedly. "Who—"

"Calm down, Melas." He craned his neck slightly, and gave me a sidelong glance. "If that were the case, they’d have attacked us straight out of the cove. But they didn’t. So the presence of The Lightbringer’s Vessel is likely a precaution. It’s not an unexpected move from the Elise considering that we’ve been hitting them hard for the past few weeks."

"R-right." I felt the panic subside a bit, even going as far as to feel a little stupid for the way I reacted. After having calmed myself, I asked the next important question in my mind. "What about Ginah?"

"What about her?"

"This might ruin her part of the plan. If The Lightbringer’s Vessel is there, they might intervene before Ginah even reaches the enuim shipment. What then?"

Kai turned back to the front, no longer meeting my gaze, before answering my question.

"We’ll just have to trust that she can handle it."

When we arrived in Luke, we headed straight for the northwestern section of the city where the safehouse was. There were no patrols of guards around anywhere in the area. The guard Captain in charge of the area had apparently been bribed by the Elise to halt patrols for the night. And perhaps some rumors and word of mouth kept people in their homes. So the streets were eerily empty, even at this time of day.

And it was day. I had no pocket watch, but Kai had one, and it was only an hour past noon. We were to get settled and wait until midnight, when the shipment was supposed to arrive.

It seemed like a long time of sitting about and doing nothing, however I saw it as an opportunity to perhaps mend any distrust I had with Lisa. She and I hadn’t spoken much over the weeks, and I genuinely wanted to trust her. I was not going to go into the conversation picking out anything to attack her with, and nor was I going to freely accept anything she said; I was trying to keep an open mind— not let my paranoia get the best of me.

"Melas?" Lisa cocked her head as I approached her in the dimly lit room. She was sitting on a wooden crate, freely swaying her legs with her hands to her sides, waiting for time to pass. She looked at me inquisitively as I stopped right in front of her.

"I—" I hesitated, realizing I wasn’t really sure what to say. Awkwardly standing there, I glanced about uncomfortably as my mind wandered between various topics to bring up. Finally, I sighed and decided to be as direct as possible rather than beating around the bush. "Why did you lie to me?"

"Lie to you?" She jumped out of her seat in surprise. "What do—"

"Last time," I said, quickly cutting her off. "Why did you lie to me back then?"

Her face relaxed. "Oh. You’re talking about that."

"Yes I am. What did you think I was talking about?"

"I don’t know." She shrugged. "But I’ve seen your magic. I just don’t want to get on your bad side."

Folding my arms, I tapped a finger impatiently as I stared at her. "So, why did you lie to me? It’s such an odd thing to lie about too. Why did you do it?"

Lisa glanced about nervously, her eyes darting around the room as if she was afraid someone was going to enter the room any moment and eavesdrop on the conversation. "I lied about… that," she started, keeping her voice hushed, "because I was curious about you. I wanted to get you to lower your guard— find out whatever secret you were hiding."

"What?"

"You heard me right," she said with less subtlety, now that we weren’t referencing her willingness to work with the Elise for the right price. "I handle all the technical aspects of my partnership with Jack. Well, me and Bruce— he was the one in charge of the ship. But he’s gone now.

"Logistics, information, and all those things that leads to a successful completion of a job were taken care of by the both of us. And when you came, showing off hundreds of gold while hiding underneath that mask? Of course all of us wanted to know more about you."

I narrowed my eyes. "And that made you decide to speak all about yourself?"

"Yes. Lowering your own guard— admitting partial truths— is the best way to learn something from someone. It’s a give and take."

"So you weren’t lying when you told me that you’d do any job for the right price?"

"As long as it isn’t detrimental to Jack and I, the answer is yes."

I crossed my arms. "Why should I believe you haven’t gone behind our backs and taken a job from the Elise to betray us?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Goddess grace us, no!" she said, putting up her hands defensively.

I stared at her, unbelieving. She hesitated, chewing her lower lip. I simply placed my hands on my hip, and she scratched her cheek slowly, eyeing my blade.

"T-they tried to recruit me— not the Elise. But one of my contacts within the Elise. But this was back at the very start! He didn’t think we had a chance, so he tried to get me to betray Ginah’s Crew."

"Then what happened?" I stepped forward; I was not trying to be intimidating— I was curious, but she took it the wrong way and drew back.

"Nothing," she admitted. "I mean, I told Jack and he didn’t like it. So, we turned down the offer, and took care of all loose ends. Ginah— and Kai— should know about this. They just kept it quiet because they thought it was better for morale that way!"

Nodding, I took a step away from her to give her space. "I see."

"I can promise you, I have not been bought by the Elise."

Lisa looked at me pleadingly, and I just sighed.

"I don’t believe you." The young woman took in a sharp breath, but I raised a finger. "But I have no reason not to trust you either. So stop being so worried. I’m not going to kill you or anything."

"Oh, uh, thanks." She gave me a weak smile.

I was satisfied with the answers— well, not satisfied, but content; I found little issues with what she said, and could even verify some of that information with Kai. I paused right at the doorway, deciding to ask one last question.

"By the way,’ I said, turning back around. "Why are you so nervous of me now?"

She was calmer— had been calmer— before I stopped to interrogate her one last time. Her smile slipped, although it remained on her face as she replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Don’t bother hiding it. You’re obviously way too jumpy around me."

"Well, you know, it’s not really a thing I have against you personally. But it’s just that I have always found magic to be…"

"Off putting?" I raised an eyebrow.

"To put it lightly? Yes." She brought up her arms helplessly. "I mean, I’m sure you have your beliefs and thoughts on the Goddess. I, personally, think She can be either the Goddess of Light or Dark. But magic is something the Demons did— and I don’t know, maybe it’s because of all the stories my parents would tell me about them when I was young to spook me into behaving, I have always found them to be a little scary."

"It’s fine, Lisa," I said reassuringly. "I honestly expected more people to have reviled my use of magic."

"Revile is… a strong word. But I wouldn’t say it’s incorrect." She looked up at me meekly. "And it’s not like spellcasters are the most unusual thing in the underground. Jack and I worked with these outlaws years ago that had a spellcaster as their boss. But they eventually clashed with Ginah’s Crew and… aren’t around anymore. And we get the occasional shipments of illicit books from some anonymous customers."

I actually found myself smirking. "I didn’t expect you— smuggler and criminal— to be so devout to the Church."

"I’m not devout or anything to the Church. Sure, I went to the temples every month on the day of the Illumination to pay my respects up until I was a teenager. But I stopped long before I even became a smuggler."

"Why’d you stop going?"

Lisa shrugged. "Because they kept taking my money."

I stared at her for a moment, before feeling my lips quirk up. I tried to hold it back, but I actually found myself laughing.

"What?"

"Aren’t those donations?" I asked. "You could’ve continued going and not donated anything."

"I know," she said, rubbing her temples. "But then they’ll give you that look, and make you feel bad. I don’t like being judged for what I’m doing, Melas. That’s one thing I really like about my job— no one ever judges you!"

"Honestly Lisa, you’ll have to tell me why you even became a smuggler one day if it’s as entertaining a story as why you stopped praying to the Goddess."

She looked like she was about to retort but stopped herself. "It’s not that I don’t pray to Her Light. I just… do it less now than before."

"Sure."

"I’m telling the truth!" She gave me a mock glare. After a moment, we both laughed for just a little bit.

I shook my head and finally started out of the door.

"And hey," I added, before finally leaving the room. "At least you’re more relaxed around me again."

Lisa nodded slowly, and smiled genuinely back at me. I turned around and walked away, leaving her alone.

And at least, I’m not so paranoid around you. Although that had been the norm for me up until now; I was trying to be better. Apparently Gennady’s pestering had finally started to affect me.

Of course, I went to Kai to confirm whether her story was true, and it turned out that it was. That did not vindicate her from anything she could possibly be doing covertly or could possibly do in the future, of course. But that meant she wasn’t lying about this.

We waited by the docks of the city as was planned. The streets were empty of all life. The crashing of the waves echoed in the distance, and a light, buzzing sound slowly came closer and closer.

It was a mana car.

It rode down the streets of Luke by itself. Its windows were tinted, and I could barely make out the figures within. Myself and Braz ducked further into the alley as it rode by us.

Honestly, I was slightly uncomfortable around the man, but we had worked together enough times that I could ignore those thoughts for now.

Lisa had stayed back at the safehouse, keeping watch, while Kai and the others were scattered around in wait. We knew who was in the car, but only when it finally stopped and the passengers exited did we fully confirm it.

A man stepped out, adjusting his suit and his hat. He had black hair and light blue skin, as well as a set of pointed ears. I stopped squinting as I confirmed it was him.

Bahr.

The Half Elf I had encountered briefly. Was it a chance of fate that I had met him at the beach before I got wrapped up in this whole ordeal? I remembered him trying to recruit me into some cause with some sort of story— if I had listened to him and gone with him then, what would have happened?

It was an odd thought. One which I highly doubted would have ever happened considering his trade. Yet I still wondered— perhaps because I was still wrestling with Braz’s comment that I was thoughtless— what was his story?

Doesn’t matter. He’s like Victor. He has to be stopped as soon as possible.

And more than just the pure morality of it: I had an incentive to finish things now. The sooner this was over and done with, the sooner I could get to the Taw Kingdom and hopefully finally find some peace and security in my tumultuous life.

Bahr was escorted by a group of a dozen men further into the pier, as a ship approached in the distance. More men were waiting for him out there, and he started discussing something with them.

I turned to Braz and he nodded. We both left the alley, finding ourselves a better vantage point where we could still remain hidden. I noticed a few other of the pirates moving around in the shadows. We had the docks surrounded.

We waited a minute. Then ten. And as the ship got closer and closer, suddenly another, smaller ship came out from the side. It assaulted the larger vessel, and its occupants began boarding it. Chaos broke out within the men waiting at the pier.

Bahr barked out some orders, and dozens of men hurriedly scrambled onto the few ships they could, rushing to their cargo’s aid. The Half Elf did not move of course. He just watched with six men by his side from where he was as the battle at sea continued.

Then it was time for us to act. Braz and I nodded, turning to a figure in the distance. Kai brought his rifle up, carefully aiming at our target. He aimed—

And shots came out from behind us. I whirled around as men poured out of a warehouse just next to the docks. A trap? Did Lisa—

My thoughts were interrupted as Braz pushed me aside from a stray bolt. He pulled me up, and steadied me.

"What do we do?" I asked the man, conjuring dozens of flaming arrows as I did. The projectiles landed amongst the oncoming men, bringing down only a small number of them, but impeding their movement greatly.

"Our job is to take out Bahr," he said. "We’re surrounded. There’s no escape unless we force our way out. But then he’ll chase after us through the city. We have no choice."

Then he turned back around and faced me.

"But that is myself and the rest of Ginah’s Crew. You have no reason to be here. I told you, didn’t I?"

I bit my lip, annoyed that he was bringing that up now. He was correct that I had no dog in this fight, but I was already here. And I did have something to gain from this. So I shook my head.

"Yes you did," I said. "I thought about it, and I still came here. Because I still have something to gain. So don’t tell me to run away when I’m faced with a monster— I don’t do that anymore."

Braz paused, inspecting my face, then he turned and shouted at Kai and the other pirates with us.

"Oi. We’ll be killing Bahr for you guys. Just hold them off!"

Kai nodded in our direction, signaling for us to go. He sent two pirates behind us as I started alongside Braz for the leader of the Elise. He was slowly coming at us from the edge of the pier, now halfway back towards us. I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye— a… ship.

The Lightbringer’s Vessel.

More backup. We had to act fast. We couldn’t waste anymore time on this. I brought out a hand, conjuring multiple Magic Missiles at once and sent it flying at the six men charging at us. They saw the attack coming, and simply leapt out of the way. Easily. Almost like Braz did when I had first met him.

I narrowed my eyes, and cast another spell. This time, they were more panicked as the Frost Javelin came at them. The projectile intercepted one of the men, killing him and pinning him to the floor of the pier.

They pulled out their own weapons. One man had a bow, and had just nocked an arrow with a glowing arrowhead onto it. He loosed it in my direction, forcing us to leap to the pier adjacent to ours.

It exploded, as expected. I prepared another spell to fire back, but Braz ran out in front of me. "You’re the only one who can beat Bahr.

These were skilled fighters too. Probably his bodyguards. They pressed Braz as I ran ahead. There was no time to waste here.

And there he was. The Half Elf I met when I first arrived in Luke. The Dark Acolyte who started the Elise. The one behind bringing the enuim to Laxis.

I approached Bahr, dagger already in hand; he narrowed his eyes as he watched me take each step. Finally, when I was a dozen paces away from him, he opened his mouth, his cool voice piercing through even the chaos in the background.

"Did you really think I wouldn’t have expected an attack? After you’ve oh-so-methodically taken out my supply of enuim within the city?" He shook his head. "All I had to do was set up an ambush. Offer your informants real bait, and prepare for an attack. It is that simple."

I brought one hand behind my back, keeping my gaze one him. He seemed unbothered by my presence— he even recognized me from back when we met on the beach.

"I had known you were a spellcaster. A Half Goblin by herself, wandering about at night? It raised all the right flags," he said. Shaking his head, he folded his arms across his chest. "But I did not anticipate you to join a group of motley pirates to oppose me. It’s—"

I did not bother to correct him; I brought both hands out, spell circles held out on each, and aimed them at Bahr. Two Fireballs shot out. The searing, red sphere flew like a comet through the night sky—

Then foliage of all kinds sprouted out of the ground in front of him. Tall oak trees grew alongside a lush, green shrubbery to form a thick wall between us. The Fireballs exploded, quickly spreading its flames across the miniature forest, yet never reaching Bahr.

I narrowed my eyes. Wood magic? And at such an advanced level too. He had to have been fully specialized in this field of spellcasting.

"It was a good attempt, but I can sense you tugging at the mana around you. I can feel it gathering at the palm of your hands. You’re inexperienced, aren’t you? Or maybe self taught. No one has taught you how to refine your control over magic. To make your spellcasting more subtle."

The magical trees quickly withered away, and without anything to burn the flames from my Fireball snuffed out. The Half Elf simply stepped over where they once were, addressing me once again as I readied for another spell.

"Why do you insist on fighting?" he asked. "We could be allies. If you help me build up the Elise— take over the underground of all of Laxis— the Dark Crusaders will deem us too valuable to ignore. They will finally listen to me, and not just dismiss my plans. And I’m sure they can find a place for you too."

This guy talks too much! The Stone Spears finished forming, and all three launched out at him. They were fast. It was one of my fastest long ranged spells. It covered the distance between us in an instant, yet all Bahr did was put up a hand.

The wooden planks of the pier rose up into a pillar, one for each Stone Spear, intercepting the projectiles, splintering as it did. As that happened, half a dozen thin spikes made of wood formed next to him. My eyes widened at how fast he cast the spell, before he sent them sailing in my direction.

"Strong. But too basic."

I dashed away from the projectiles. Each one was about half as long as my body, but they were clearly sharp. I didn’t want to be skewered by them. It landed on the floor of the pier, puncturing a hole into it— and brambles shot out around the wooden spikes, jutting out dangerously.

"These Wooden Spikes may seem weak at first, but even this little of them are more powerful than any Fireball."

If one of those had even come close to touching my feet, I would have died! Or at least, been severely injured. But I couldn’t stop to consider what might have happened as he summoned more of those Wooden Spikes out of thin air.

I ran laterally around the man, staying a distance away from his wooden spikes before they shot out. I saw the first spike move, and I jumped. From my pier to the next. The Wooden Spikes barely missed me, sinking into the sea floor far away from me instead.

"Ah, but the control over them is even less than a Stone Spear. They are too wild. Just like nature is supposed to be."

Can you stop talking? I was already pointing one finger at Bahr when my foot touched the ground once more. I flicked my other hand, sending a Wind Blade in his direction.

He flipped out of the way of the Burst Cyclone, unaided by any spell; he sailed through the air almost majestically, landing on his own two feet lithely like a cat. He turned around, but I was running at him again. But this time, I had by my side half a dozen glowing orbs. Then a dozen.

Explosive Orbs, the most I had ever cast at once, surrounded me.

This was more powerful than even two Fireballs. This was probably equal to six of them all at once. Some of them were pre-cast, and others weren’t. I sent them flying in his direction as he dodged out of the way from the first wave.

He pointed a finger, dispelling some of the second wave, but failed to do the same for the third. Bahr once again evaded the onslaught, before leaping between the piers to avoid the rest. The last of the Explosive Orbs came at him as he stopped right in front of me. He dispelled them, as I tried to fight back but failed.

He was strong. I had known he would be strong. But dispelling my magic even when I fully concentrated? That shocked me. And worse...

The Lightbringer’s Vessel was coming! We were going to lose. Kai and Braz were busy holding off the thugs at our backs. And everyone who went with me was dead. I had to do this.

I had to beat Bahr, if not this was all for naught.

"You know," he said, shaking his head. His back was facing the ship. His full focus was on me. "Your mastery of magic is one to be admired. But it’s clearly inexperienced. Scattered. You use consecutive spells that would never complement each other. And you rely too much on brute force."

Why was he trying to give me advice? I wanted to question him, but I didn’t reply; there was no time for it. I tugged at the mana in the air. I felt an invisible hand appear right next to a stack of wooden boxes.

I held another spell at the ready as the Half Elf continued his monologue. "I was like that too, once. When I was still in Ghab-Ha.

"I learned magic because those foolish Humans rejected me. They rejected me for who I was, so I rejected their worldview. They forged a false treaty, pretending that our alliance made us equals. But that was never the case. They saw us as inferior. Their Great Hero wed our Princess, but never cared for our country. And when that foolish woman became Queen, she allowed us to lose our power— lose our place in the world.

"Is it not ridiculous that she teaches us to respect Humans, but doesn’t do anything when they walk all over us with their dirty feet? Even when her daughter— the child of Xander himself— is treated as less than a Lord by the Duke’s and Baron’s of the Holy Xan Empire, she says nothing. I will not allow such disgrace to continue any longer—"

I knocked over the box, toppling the entire stack down onto the ground. It landed with a crash, and Bahr turned to look at the source of the noise. I brought my other arm up, saying the name of the spell and casting it at haste.

"Lighting Strike."

A flash of light illuminated the sky, and a white beam came down from the heavens itself; it struck true and fast, falling down onto the Apostle. He couldn’t dodge. There was no time to dodge. This was a powerful spell that could kill even a Horned Viper. He was—

Still alive.

I stared in shock as Bahr simply stood in front of me, completely unharmed. He was surrounded by a sphere of darkened wood, protecting him from the spell. The Lightning Strike barely left a singe on the wood, only the trail of gray smoke indicated the attack even happened.

"Wooden Shell. It’s a powerful spell. The strongest defensive spell I know— only a Grand Fireball could possibly crack it. Perhaps if you had actually caught me off guard, I wouldn’t have cast it in time— but alas, while that simple Levitation spell manipulated too little mana for me to sense, the same can’t be said for a Lightning Strike. Especially not when quick casting it as you did."

I took a step back as he slowly approached me; I was not completely out of ideas just yet, but it was clear— he was better than me. He was more experienced in fighting with magic, and he had a wider repertoire of powerful spells than me. Was this the difference between an Apostle and a Disciple?

Victor was talented, but he still lacked experience. That Goblin Dark Acolyte was more experienced, but lacked the talent Victor had. But Bahr? He had the skill set of both, and even more.

I warily drew my dagger, realizing that I was going to be pushed to the very brink in this fight; killing him was possible, but highly unlikely. I just had to distract him until the others came to my aid. But… were they even going to come?

I could only put my faith on them to come here in time. If they were too late, I would be skewered and killed by those deadly Wood Spikes. I couldn’t just put my trust on them, could I? The smart thing to do now was run— escape with my life instead of sacrificing myself like an idiot.

And suddenly, I found myself battling with indecision as my death edged closer and closer to me; this was not the time. I had to act now. If not, he would kill me!

Bahr brought a hand up, and I tensed. But he simply smiled.

"This is my last offer to you, Miss," he said softly. He met my gaze, opening his palms up towards the sky. "Come with me. Join us— the Dark Crusaders. We don’t have to be enemies. It would be a waste to kill someone as gifted as you."

Biting my tongue, I caught myself from rebuking his offer. This was a chance. Perhaps I could delay him by talking to him. If I could do that, maybe Braz and Kai would arrive, and we would stand a chance together.

And then, The Lightbringer’s Vessel arrived. It stopped right next to us, finally drawing Bahr’s attention. I had expected him to smile. To grin triumphantly and demand me to give in. But instead, his gaze snapped to it in surprise.

"What?" The Half Elf stared aghast. He turned back to me, face contorting. "So you were the ones who got them to betray me."

I paused, cocking my head. "Betray you? What are you talking about?"

He angrily jabbed a finger in my direction, a spell circle already forming on his other hand as he raised it above his head.

"You— I wanted to spare you. But I have no choice now to kill you!"

I backed up, prepared to flee. To escape, calling it a loss. But a voice interrupted me. A laid back, high pitched voice.

"Kill her? I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that."

A figure stepped out onto the deck of the ship. It was a young woman with light blue hair and piercing green eyes. She was maybe in her mid to late 20’s. She wore a mix of robes and light travel gear, with mana crystals of all colors and sizes emblazoned on her clothing.

Bahr’s eyes widened, and a name left his mouth. It wasn’t a name I recognized, but there was a title attached to it. One that I knew. One that I feared.

"Saintess Lilith."

She smiled happily in my direction, as I realized that the Church had finally caught up to me.

"I’ve spent all that time trying to find you, Aria. And I’d prefer if you didn’t die now that we have finally met."

Chapter 34: Dockside Encounter

I could feel my blood pulsing through my veins. The thumping of my heart inside my chest was almost audible to my ears. Trepidation and fear had seized me, as I stared up at the woman on the ship, as dark clouds began to form behind her.

"What’s wrong?" Lilith asked, cocking her head. "I’m here to save your life, Aria. Why do you look so afraid?"

I raised my dagger up to guard myself, but that defensive movement was betrayed by the shaking of my hands. Cool droplets of sweat rolled down my face as I opened my mouth slowly. But no words came out.

She continued.

"Well, by saving your life— I mean it in more ways than one. See, I was hoping to not only prevent you from dying here, but I would love it if you came back with me to the Holy Xan Empire. Perhaps there, with enough repentance and enough praying, the Goddess would accept your soul after they execute you for you and your mother’s crimes."

I tensed as a savage smile spread across the Saintess’ face; she had not moved just yet, but I was certain if I tried to make a break for it that she’d instantly bound after me. So I just stood there, voice caught in my throat, unable to say or do anything.

"What brings you here, Saintess?" Bahr asked, seemingly as wary as I was. "Why would the Church send you after a single spellcaster?"

"Oh?" She looked over at him and scoffed. "Perhaps not for an Apostle like you. You’re not even a Herald. The Church doesn’t have time for petty heretics playing small games in some backwater country."

"And she does?" He turned to me, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes," she said, her eyes glinting as they flickered in my direction. "Do you want me to tell him? Or do you want to tell him yourself?"

I did not respond.

"Well, if you must know, that girl right there is the daughter of the Fiend. The great Valeria Aimy Corinna! One of the founders of the Shadow’s Evangelium."

Bahr frowned, thurning to me. "She is?"

"Of course." Lilith nodded eagerly, pointing down at me. "Take off your mask. Show him who you are, Aria. Let me see your face."

I took a step back, fearing an attack. But none came. Instead, the Dark Acolyte called over to me.

"Aria, was it?" He didn’t wait for me to respond as he continued. "Saintess Lilith is known as one of the most ruthless people in all of the Holy Xan Empire."

"Aw, thanks for the compliment. I had no idea my reputation was that well known even amongst the Dark Crusaders. I had thought the Church would be better at keeping word of it from spreading."

He ignored her interjection. "We’ll have to work together if we want to survive."

I hesitated, considering his offer. Why was he offering to help me? I was confused for a moment; I had betrayed the Dark Crusaders before, why didn’t he just leave me to die and run? It was at that moment, it clicked.

He doesn’t know.

Somehow, for whatever reason, he knew nothing about what I had done back in the Free Lands. Those Dark Crusaders the other day knew, but he didn’t. That was why he was uncertain about my name— the wrong name Lilith was calling me by.

Perhaps it was because he was cut off from the Dark Crusaders. He was one of them, however apparently he was not well connected with them, unable to even get too many allies to help him with the Elise. It made sense; the Dark Crusaders were mostly decentralized, so there had to be varying degrees of disconnect the different members or cells in the group had with the Infernalis.

I could use it to my advantage; he could serve as a distraction. He was evil after all. I had come here with the intention of killing him. And yet… why was he so insistent on helping me? Lilith had the same thought.

"Work with her?" The Saintess wagged her fingers sternly. "Come now. I was hoping to give a pest like you a quick death. But offering to help someone who is as much of a threat to the Church as her mother once was— a monster responsible for far too many deaths to count— might just make me hurt you a little before I kill you."

Bahr’s face contorted into that of anger and fury. The Half Elf brought an arm up and pointed beyond the horizon— towards something in the distance. "Monster? The Fiend was no monster. If you want to talk about monsters, let’s talk about you, the oh-so-virtuous and just follower of the Goddess, who perpetuates the survival and will of an Empire that thrives off the oppression of so many peoples? That has brought an entire species to the brink of extinction?"

Lilith just shrugged. "I don’t actually care." Then she leapt off the ship.

I reacted immediately; I sent two Fireballs flying at the woman midair. She effortlessly blocked the spells with her spear, the magical fire being splashed aside like it was nothing. I backed up as she landed between myself and Bahr.

The Dark Acolyte pointed and a flurry of Wooden Spikes flew at her. With a grin, Lilith twirled her spear and tore the projectiles apart. The ones that landed at her feet burst into the dangerous barbed protrusions of brambles, but they harmless scraped at an invisible aura around her.

"Come on," she said, voice still carefree. "Do you really think those weak spells can harm me?"

As the words left her mouth, the sky crackled and a beam of light crashed down at her. I did not stop with the Lightning Strike, immediately following up with a Burst Cyclone; the air exploded into dozens of blades of wind shooting out in all directions

Bahr did not sit idly either; he followed up alongside me, determining that this woman was as much of a threat to him as she was to him. A large green magical glyph formed where Lilith had been standing, glowing brilliantly for a moment before a jungle of thorns shot out, engulfing the entire area.

I didn’t wait to see what happened next. I turned around and started running back towards the beach. I saw Braz disposing of the last of Bahr’s bodyguards, looking like he was about to come back me up. I waved my hands wildly in the air and shouted.

"Get out of—"

His eyes widened, and I did not think. I just jumped out of the way, following Braz as he dived into the water. A streak of flames ran down the pier where I had been standing, blazing with such intense heat I could even feel it in the water.

I took a deep breath as my head bobbed out amongst the rough waves, trying to pull me away into the sea. I clung onto one of the wooden pillars holding up the pier, turning around once again to Braz and Kai who had paused in shock just before the half-destroyed wooden platform I had been on. I shouted one word.

"Run!"

It took an instant for Kai to process this information and act; he began shouting orders back at the remaining pirates still on land as they scattered away from the docks. Braz took a moment longer to react, but eventually conceded and swam back towards land.

Truth be told, I could have had them help me. I could have asked them to attack her, distracting her as I escaped into the shadows unnoticed. But this did not involve them. This had entirely to do with me and whatever carelessness allowed me to get caught. Did Lisa betray me?

I shook my head as I climbed back up onto one of the intact piers. Think later, I thought, deciding that that did not matter at the moment. Just survive.

I glanced back at Lilith, and saw her engaged in combat with Bahr. He charged at her, his body being wrapped by an armor of vines and brambles— his entire being engulfed by nature. He clobbered Lilith, wisps of green energy around his wooden arm. She was actually knocked back, but not before stabbing at him from a distance.

The Half Elf howled as the tip of the spear nicked his shoulder. It sliced cleanly through whatever protection the magical protection he wore offered him, dealing more damage than any regular spear should have done with such a wound.

She was about to follow up with a lethal strike, but was knocked off balance as two Stone Spears crashed into her back. I was running away as well— trying to escape rather than stay and fight. But she was about to kill him. If he died, she would have easily caught up to me and captured me.

I followed up with a Frost Javelin. She easily smashed it into pieces and was about to leap for me, but Bahr grabbed her by her legs, and with a swing, threw her into The Lightbringer’s Vessel. It was then, suddenly, I felt an intense feeling of unease overwhelm me for just a moment— it was familiar. Like I had felt it before. Similar to how I felt at the beach over a month ago.

It screamed… danger?

I continued down the pier, my foot stomping loudly on the hard wooden surface as I was about to reach the end of the pier back to land when there was a massive explosion. The Lightbringer’s Vessel split into two and began to sink as Saintess Lilith landed right in front of the Half Elf who was also about to flee.

She stood there in front of him, covered in glowing red lines, inside the storm of ice and fire. A brilliant crimson aura exuded around her, protecting her from her own miracles than wildly destroyed everything in the pier. It ebbed away at Bahr’s armor, tearing it apart slowly as he tried to back up.

Then I realized what the feeling was; it was that of mana being pulled— a spell being cast. But this was different in many ways. Firstly, it was a lot of mana. I could practically feel it screaming at me, blaring loudly into my ears— completely taking over my mana sense. That was the danger I felt.

And instead of mana being forced from the surroundings into a magic circle, it was a concentration of mana within her body. Only the mana inside of the Saintess moved, nothing else.

Rushing forward at him, she parried a strike and slashed him across his chest. He fell onto one knee, grasping at both the wound on his arms and his upper body as Lilith brought her spear down at him. I tried sending a Fireball back, but I was too slow. She lowered her weapon—

And it stopped right at the darkened wood surrounding Bahr. The Elysian Shell had stopped the killing blow, with only a small mark where Lilith had struck. She frowned, before getting engulfed by the blast of flames I had sent at her.

She simply backed up as the aura around her protected her from the attack, although the lines streaking throughout her body shone more brightly for just a moment. The Saintess shot me an annoyed look, but ignored me and focused back at the Half Elf still inside his magical barrier.

The Elysian Shell was powerful. If I had to guess— and I blamed Gennady for making me think of this comparison— it was probably a Tier 6 spell. Even my strongest spell couldn’t break through it. Perhaps given enough time, I could whittle it down. But never in a real, active combat situation.

And yet, it was barely a problem for Lilith.

More lines appeared on her body, before gathering itself on her arms and hands. The lines came into contact with the spear and it flashed just for a moment, before being encased by the same red glow that covered her body. She swung her spear down at the Elysian Shell once. The entire pier shook. A visible shockwave sent me stumbling as the ships in the vicinity rocked and swayed along with the waves.

I looked up and saw a crack appear on the darkened wood. It was a light crack— it didn’t look to be much of a problem. Then Lilith swung again. And again. And again—

The sixth swing shattered the Elysian Shell. Bahr looked up, still injured and unable to react as Lilith brought her spear down on him. He opened his mouth, forming some words.

"My people shall no longer be silent—"

Before he was silenced. He fell, dead, leaving only me for the Saintess to chase after.

I could not run. There was no way I could escape. The Saintess turned to face me, a dangerous look in her eyes. I pointed—

And I set the pier on fire. I sent Fireball and Fire Arrows all across the docks. If there was anything flammable, I set it ablaze. The lamps and all the light sources flared up one by one as I forced all the fires I could to burn.

It was not an instantaneous thing. I had to light it all up one by one as I continued blasting fire into the pier. But this was in addition to the flames already created from myself and Lilith. This was all I could do. I couldn’t run, so I had to hide— escape, hidden behind the flames.

I had practiced with fire; I knew the basic spells to manipulate all the elements, but I had learned to control fire more than the rest. So I made the flames blaze— burn wildly at the docks of Luke. It tried to touch me, but I kept it back. I ran through the inferno, trying to escape my pursuer.

And yet, as I continued my sprint away to safety, a spear pierced through the curtain of flames behind me. How—

I whirled around, throwing myself to the side with all my strength. I felt the fire itself push me, giving me enough speed and strength to match the fast Saintess. It was barely enough.

My head moved out of the way of the spearhead as it came at me. I eyed the pointed tip as it came, almost in slow motion, and struck the side of my mask. There was a crack as half of it shattered from the impact, blood spurting out and covering my right eye. She followed up by striking me with the butt of her spear, and I felt a crunch as my arm broke from the hit. I bit back a scream as I crumpled to the ground.

She could sense my magic. That was how she found me so quickly. My only chance to escape had been foiled by my own panic; if I were more calm, I would have quickly hidden after setting the nearby pier on fire. Used the thick smoke and the blanket of flames to my advantage. But I tried to create an even bigger distraction than was necessary, so I was caught.

Lilith was here now. I could not escape. I had once again thrown away my freedom, and was going to be captured. Tried and executed by the Church for such ridiculous rules and laws which harmed so many people. But if I died, at least I would be with my mom, right?

No.

I did not want to die. I wanted to live. I had already made that decision. I could not allow the Church to take me in and kill me for something as simple as magic.

But what could I do? Lilith was already here. She was reaching for me with one hand. Any spell I could conjure up could not hurt her. So I raised an arm, pointing at her, but it was too slow. There was no one here to help me—

And a thin beam struck Lilith in the back of the head. It did not kill her, of course. The aura from her armor protected her. And yet, she was knocked off balance. It caused her to stumble, giving me enough time to cast the spell.

I felt the air above us both as I backed up. A green magic circle appeared, but its color shifted. It was the smoke I manipulated, focusing solely on the gray-black fumes billowing above us. Lilith steadied herself, about to stop me from casting the spell, but was forced to dodge as Kai fired another shot.

I shot a glance at the man as he lowered his gun and nodded in my direction. He was standing next to Braz, and the two finally turned to run as my spell went off. It was the spell I had been practicing with. The Burst Cyclone which created a maelstrom of wind blades. But this time, it was not just air that burst out. The smoke overhead exploded in all directions, covering the entire pier with toxic gas.

I held my breath, ignoring whatever pain I felt, and cut off my connection with the mana in my surroundings as I backed up. Saintess Lilith was engulfed in the smoke. I silently ran away from her as fast as I could, finally finding myself standing on dry land as she sent streaks of fire and ice in all directions.

It could not cut through the smoke. Why would it? In fact, the fire only made it worse. Finally, she tried sending a gale of wind to clear the smoke, blowing it in all directions. But I ran with the wind, and the wind exacerbated the flames and thus the smoke.

I had anticipated this— or rather, I had hoped for it. She seemed genuinely angry when Bahr had hurt her. When he threw her into her own ship with all his strength. While she could manifest miracles of all elements, she did not specialize in using the wind. Perhaps if she did, she’d be able to send such a powerful gust it would disperse of all the flames and smoke all at once. But luckily for me, she couldn’t do that.

So she screamed and shouted for me as I escaped into the docks. She did not stop pursuing me, landing with a loud thud close to where I was. I couldn’t see her. I couldn’t feel her shadow. But I could sense her miracles.

I quietly backed up in the opposite direction of Lilith, trying to get further into the city. The blanket of smoke now covered half of the docks, keeping me safe as long as I did not make any noise or cast any spells.

She continued trying to blow the smoke away, and it worked for mere moments before more smoke always gathered around her. I was almost at the stairs that would lead me away from the docks, when suddenly she changed course.

The Saintess started for my direction as she called out.

"Where are you Aria? You can’t run from the Church forever. I will find you. Just give up and I’ll even tell the Archbishop to lighten your sentence— give you a painless death instead of burning you with the Sacred Flames."

I ignored her. I immediately hid in a small alcove as she scanned the area. Smoke kept covering the area as she continued trying to blow it away. I waited for her to leave— to go investigate some other place. And eventually, she did.

With a click of her tongue, Lilith turned around and looked at the waves. Her gaze was fixed on the ocean— she thought I had jumped into the water to escape and hide. She slowly went further away from me, and only after another minute passed did I move.

I ran out of the alcove and ducked into the streets of Luke. Blood dripped down the side of my face. I tiredly made my way slowly through the alleys of the city. I was exhausted. My arm was broken, and my face felt like it was on fire from a simple cut. My vision was blurry. My entire body was numb. I wanted to pass out.

But I pushed on.

I heard the sound of footsteps from people and horses coming from the distance, and I quickly hid myself. Guards and firefighters pushing a simple fire engine ran towards the docks to investigate what had happened. I waited for them to pass before I went back out.

I continued stumbling through the streets, pushing myself off walls I occasionally found myself leaning on. Finally, I arrived.

I pushed open the door of the safe house and stepped into the dark room. I collapsed onto my knees

"Melas? Goddess grace us, what happened?" Lisa ran over to me. She grabbed my shoulders, and stared at me with a worried look on her face. "I’ll get a healing potion just wait—"

Chapter 35: Tired

Everything after I returned to the safehouse was a blur. I passed out soon after Lisa tended to me with a healing potion, and found myself fading in and out of consciousness multiple times. I barely recalled what happened— it was almost like I was a kid again, sleeping in the car ride home after a long road trip.

The only difference was, instead of coming back from a vacation well-rested and content, I had just barely escaped with my life from an evil Saintess.

I vaguely remembered Braz coming to the safehouse to escort me and Lisa out of the city. They both stopped to look over me for a moment, exchanging a few muffled words that I couldn’t make out. Then I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, we were entering the cove of the hideout. Kai was with us now, alongside the remaining pirates that came with us, and he was in the middle of a conversation with Lisa.

"...if we’d known this, we wouldn’t have let her—"

"...but how why did the— "

"...we’ll deal with that later."

I could only understand bits and pieces of their discussion, but it sounded important; I tried to force myself up— say something to them. All that came out, however, was an odd grouse.

"Hngh…"

The large figure of Braz loomed over me as he gently whispered. "Don’t strain yourself. You’re still tired. Go back to sleep."

Every ounce of my being didn’t want to listen to him, yet my body simply complied with that order and everything went dark again.

The third time I found myself waking up, I was lying in the bed of a small room. Gennady was seated next to me, a worried look on his face. When he saw me move, he quickly rushed over to my side.

"Lass, I’m sorry for not being with you. I’m supposed to be your bodyguard, but I’ve left you alone ever since we came here. Listen, if you want me to return your coin or do anything else for you, just let me know—"

He was jabbering on about serious things— things I didn’t want to bother thinking about at the moment. So instead of listening to him, I decided to close my eyes and go back to sleep.

And finally, some time after that, I groggily opened my eyes and sat up in bed. My body didn’t ache with each movement; whatever healing potion I had been treated did its job well— only the shadow of the pains from the day before remained. And yet, I was still tired.

It was a mix of mental exhaustion, physical exhaustion, and another kind of exhaustion that came from using magic. I wanted to climb out of the bed but my body didn’t allow me to; instead, I just waited there for a moment.

The room was empty. Everyone who had been hovering over me must have left some time ago. Was it night? I didn’t think so. I highly doubted I had been passed out for a full day.

After just sitting there for another minute or two, I mustered up the strength to finally get up and out of the bed. I paused as I saw what had been laid face down on the side table— it was my mask.

My broken mask.

I sighed as I realized I wasn’t even wearing my hood up. That meant everyone now knew what I looked like. And with what happened with Lilith… I had some explaining to do, which I was not looking forward to.

Still, I forced myself to move: I exited the room, looking around the hideout. I was met with the familiar scene of the cove with its rock walls and rock ceiling, as well as the sandy beach. But something was different.

It was… emptier.

That was not to say it was completely deserted and I had been abandoned; I recognized most of the faces that were meandering around, but there were significantly less people about. In fact, one of the ships— the bigger ones— was gone from its usual place. It had been anchored in the same spot for the entirety of the time I had been here, but now it and dozens of people were missing.

I knew what that meant, of course. It was obvious.

Not all of the pirates were gone; in fact half of them were still here. But the ones that were most vulnerable— the elderly, the mothers, and the children— had been brought to another place for their safety. Not all the noncombatants went. I spotted Sevin as he was passing by and I called out to him.

"Sevin."

The young man stopped when he saw me. He hesitated for a moment, before approaching me with an apprehension he did not have before. "Melas, you’re awake," he said. "I’m glad. When you came back yesterday and they told us what happened, I was so worried."

He sounded worried. But the way he eyed me told me he was uncomfortable— still processing the fact that I was a kid and not some Half Goblin like I had led him to believe.

"I’m fine now." I turned and gestured past him, deciding that this was something I could discuss with him later. "Where’s Ginah? Kai?’

"They’re over at their meeting room. The usual place."

"Thanks."

I bowed my head slightly and hurried in the direction of the meeting room. I was about to enter it, but stopped as I saw the man standing guard in front of it. Braz glanced down at me and nodded.

"You’re up," he said simply.

"I am."

Unlike Sevin, he did not seem too put off by me now that he knew I was a kid. He shot me a casual grin and jerked a thumb behind him. "Come on in. Your Dwarf friend has been anxious and getting louder by the minute."

"Gennady?" I cocked a brow and peered into the room. I wasn’t able to make out any of the conversation inside but there clearly was one going on, and it was getting tense. "What’s going on?"

"They’re discussing you. So you might want to get in there and back yourself up."

I had thought that was the case. Sighing, I went in followed by Braz.

"...and I’m telling you, you can’t just do that."

"We know. But it’s too much of a—"

Ginah cut herself off as she saw me enter the room. Gennady’s face snapped in my direction and he quickly rushed over to my side.

"Melas, Goddess grace us— you’re awake!" The broad chested man wrapped his arms around me and I struggled to break free. "You’re fine!"

I squirmed in his arms. "I won’t be if you keep hugging me so tightly."

"Right, sorry." He quickly released me and stepped back. The Dwarf looked at me once over, placing both hands on my shoulder. "I’m glad you’re ok."

"I’m glad too," I said. "I was already worried about my own life when fighting Bahr. But when Saintess Lilith showed up, I thought I was dead. I—"

I paused and glanced over at Ginah and Kai standing off to the side. Jack and Lisa were in the room too; they did not look too enthused to see me— well, Jack was his usual dour self, while Lisa was more on edge than she had been around me before.

I realized the context of the conversation even before I heard what was being said; there was only one thing to be discussed now that Bahr was dead, and the fact that there even was a discussion going on indicated that it was probably not a good thing for me.

I took a deep breath, ready to explain myself, but before I could speak the pirate Captain opened her mouth first.

"We had no idea you were a child," Ginah said. "If we did, we wouldn’t have made you fight for us. We’re sorry."

I gave her a blank look. That was not what I had expected her to say. "Why are you apologizing?" I asked, confused.

She gave me an odd look. "I just explained why."

"Right." I shook my head, still not fully cognizant just yet. "You don’t have to apologize," I said. "I decided to help you out of my own volition. It was my choice and I knew what I was getting myself into. If I didn’t think I was capable of fending for myself, I wouldn’t have agreed to our deal."

"Yes, but that doesn’t matter. You’re still a child."

There was nothing to say to that; the point being made was clear— making a kid take part in life-or-death situations was not the most moral thing to do. That much was obvious.

I still wasn’t prepared to face whatever decision they had come to regarding my deal with them just yet. So I skirted around the issue, choosing to focus on other, pressing topics first.

"What has happened in the city since I passed out?" I asked, turning to Kai.

"Hey, why aren’t you asking me that?" Ginah sputtered. "I’m the Captain here!"

I rolled my eyes. "Because he’s the one who’s actually in charge. That’s what Quartermasters do."

"Rude."

"But true."

"Well, only somewhat," she huffed. "I’ll concede that point, though."

Kai sighed, rubbing his temples; he faced me as he began to explain.

"The portion of the docks we were fighting in was completely burned down. Most of the ships there belonged to the Elise, and considering that their leader is dead, the organization is pretty much just a name at this point. Their fate is something that has yet to become official, but I’m sure we’ll be hearing about the fracturing of what’s left into minor groups soon enough."

My eyes flickered as I picked up on what he tried to glaze over— everything there had been burned down. While it was a good thing the Elise was pretty much inoperative now, it was still a good portion of the port of Luke. That was not something insignificant. And I played a part in causing it.

He must have noticed the look on my face as he took on a softer tone of voice.

"I know you’re worried about the… damages. But from the reports we’ve heard, no innocent civilian died. The area around the docks were mostly for storing equipment and most of the ships there were disused anyhow. So it’s not like too many people will be losing their jobs over this. We did good, Melas."

"I hope so," I muttered under my breath.

Bahr was dead and the Elise could no longer diffuse their drugs in this country. That was good, right?

And yet, I remembered the Half Elf as he tried to recruit me as his ally; he truly believed what he was doing was the right thing. How could he ignore all the suffering his actions caused? He was not like Victor who took pleasure in his atrocious actions— Bahr seemed to almost ignore it entirely.

Was he just ignorant of the consequences of his own actions? Or did he treat it as a means that was justified by the end result? Or rather, should I have even tried to kill him?

As Kai pointed out, with the Elise gone, there would be chaos in the underground of Luke. With dozens of different factions grasping for power, would it even be better than how it was before?

I was still tired. I wasn’t sure why I felt a sense of regret at Bahr’s death— perhaps it was because he tried to ally himself with me; being hunted down by literally everyone had skewed my worldview in the past to accept the help of anyone who wasn’t out to get me. And I almost forgot the important lesson I learned to choose my allies carefully because if I did not, I might find myself amongst monsters.

Bahr was a monster. I was certain he was. A monster that wanted to help me, but a monster nonetheless.

And it was not like I hadn’t already considered the consequences of bringing down the Elise. I turned back to Ginah and looked at her questioningly.

"So, now that the Elise is gone, what are you guys going to do next?"

A flash of uncertainty crossed through Ginah’s face. Perhaps others wouldn’t have noticed it— but I picked up on it a while back. That look went away quickly enough and she gave me an easy grin.

"Didn’t we tell you? We’ll clean up the mess that’s left behind. The Elise had gangs and pirate crews under their control— they’re going to be a bit of trouble, but they already know our reputation. It’s not going to be too hard to rein them in."

"Right," I nodded, but still looking at her curiously. "I just wanted to make sure."

"Yeah," she said, before taking on a more hesitant tone of voice. "That is not an issue. The problem is…" she trailed off, averting her gaze from me.

Sighing, I simply folded my arms. It was time to address the elephant in the room; the reason why Gennady was upset and arguing with them, and the thing I had been most afraid of all this time.

"Just say it already."

The pirate Captain took a deep breath; she met my gaze and held it, opening her mouth to speak. "Listen," she started, "we don’t have anything against you. But this whole business with the Church. We can’t really… get involved."

I had thought I steeled myself for those words but I still found my shoulders slumping upon hearing them. I couldn’t even find the energy within myself to be angry at them for this.

"I’m sorry, Melas." She didn’t once turn away; she clearly didn’t want to say it, but she was forcing herself to. "Perhaps if it were just some Priest from the Church threatening us, we’d brush it off. Or if they even sent a team of Inquisitors. But this is a Saintess we’re talking about. It’s just not…"

"Worth it?" I helpfully put in and she nodded defeatedly.

I wanted to just leave. I was tired. I didn’t want to argue with her. And yet, I wasn’t sure what I could even do.

"But we made a deal," I protested, though I knew my heart wasn’t fully into it. "You can’t just back out now."

"Saintess Lilith is after you. You do realize that, right?"

"Yes," I said, nodding my head somberly. "Of course I know that."

"Did you know she was after you before that night?" Ginah prodded me.

"No."

She narrowed her eyes, looking deep inside of me; she wanted to trust me, I could tell. And she should have— I was telling the truth.

"I didn’t know Saintess Lilith would come for me, Ginah. I didn’t even know the Church was hunting for me." I hesitated, realizing that that was a part lie. I quickly corrected myself. "I mean, I was aware that they probably didn’t want me alive since I escaped. But I had no idea they were actively coming after me."

"Escape?" Ginah cocked her head. "What did you escape from? Who are you, Melas? Why is a Saintess hunting you down?"

"I…" Should I tell them? I glanced over at Gennady. He was standing by my side with his arms folded. I had told him who my mother was completely by accident; it was good fortune that he didn’t care too much about it, but would Ginah react the same way?

I looked over at Lisa standing over in the corner. She had already been thrown off by the fact that I was a spellcaster. If she found out I was the daughter of this infamous Fiend, would she demand I be handed over to the Church?

I couldn’t tell them. But I wanted to. I had to. And yet, when I opened my mouth, nothing came out.

"It seems it has been decided," Ginah finally said, realizing I had nothing else to add.

"No it isn’t." Gennady stepped forward. "How can you possibly leave this girl to die? Aren’t you lot supposed to be some group of noble pirates? To have principles?"

The pirate Captain hesitated, chewing her lower lip and glancing over at me one last time, before looking back at the Dwarf. She shook her head.

"We’re not leaving anyone to die. I— the Dark Crusaders will surely take her in. She’s an enemy of the Church and a spellcaster. They can protect you."

"She can’t turn to the Dark Crusaders."

"Why not?"

"I don’t know," the Dwarf said, grimacing. "But she can’t."

Everyone in the room turned to look at me expectantly. I wanted to explain myself— but again, I could not. If they knew I was wanted by the Dark Crusaders, they would want to cast me aside even more.

"Well?" Ginah raised an eyebrow.

"Ginah," Braz said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think that’s enough questions for now."

"No." Shaking her head, she turned to her crewmate. "I’m sorry, Braz. And I don’t like doing this either. But I have to know. For the safety of our crew."

Her actions made sense; I could tell everyone was uncomfortable with how hard she was pressing me, a ‘kid’. But I could see the logic behind it.

And yet, I didn’t want to speak; I had just barely escaped captivity once again, and now had to deal with all my plans— everything I had strove to avoid— come tumbling down. It was not that I couldn’t go to the Taw Kingdom anymore, but traversing through land would have delayed it by months.

I could wait. I was always willing to wait. However, when you thought you were killing two birds with one stone by working to your own ends while doing something good, and it turned out all the good you did was worth nothing, it weighed you down a little bit.

So instead of giving them an answer, I simply turned around and just left.

I heard them call after me. Gennady tried to stop me, but I ignored him. Braz said something, but I ignored him. Even Kai tried asking me to wait, but I ignored him.

I returned to my room and began packing my stuff. It took me a couple of minutes to get everything ready, but when I was done, I took a deep breath and sprawled onto the bed. There was nothing to be done. I was probably going to be captured once again— have my freedom taken from me again. Lose the autonomy and agency I had worked so hard to create and maintain.

I lay there for a moment, staring only at the ceiling; I did not know how much time passed— how many minutes went by— eventually, however, loud footsteps approached the doorway and I glanced up.

"What do you want, Gennady?" I asked, sitting up.

The Dwarf was standing by the doorway

"Lass, I know I’m supposed to be your bodyguard, but I can’t protect you from a Saintess alone. I think you should at least try to get them to change their minds. There’s no way we’ll reach the Taw Kingdom on foot with someone like Lilith coming after us. Sacred piss, I don’t even think we’d be fully safe if we went by sea."

"If you’re coming with me, then let’s go," I said, ignoring him. I grabbed my back from the floor and hefted it up next to me onto the bed. "Get your things and prepare to leave by nightfall."

"But I think you should at least consider—"

"No." I closed my eyes, resolving myself. "It doesn’t matter. People only care about their own interests. And it goes against Ginah and her crew’s interest to help me. Truth be told, I should have known something would’ve gone wrong. At least I can leave this place knowing I did some good and my time here wasn’t pointless, even if I didn’t get what I wanted."

He furrowed his brows. "You don’t mean that, do you?"

"I do," I said simply. "What else can I do here?"

"You’ve fought alongside everyone here, lassie. You’ve helped them achieve their goal. You can’t just let them abandon you now that you’re the one in trouble."

"And why can’t I do that?" I asked. "It’s not like I can even convince them to help me anyway. I’m just saving time."

Gennady hesitated. He looked like he still had something to say; he opened his mouth, but was cut off before he could even speak.

"Why can’t you do that?" Lisa said, stepping into the room. She nodded at Gennady, smiling as she did. "Can I come in?"

"Oh, of course." He moved aside, letting her walk past him.

The young woman turned to face me as I raised an eyebrow.

"I just wanted to tell you something since you decided to leave. Give you a heads up."

"What is it?" I frowned.

Lisa strode on over to my side and took a seat; she placed both her arms on the bed, using them to support her as she leaned back slightly. "I went to Luke this morning to see if I could dig up any information on Lilith. How long she has been here, and what groups she has managed to get under her control.

"Apparently, she has been in the city for over a month. Roughly as long as you have, maybe a few days to a week later. She has been searching for you for a while— well, not you you."

"Aria," I said, remembering what Lilith had called me. "She’s looking for an ‘Aria’."

"She is. And while that is a pretty common name, she wasn’t always looking for one." Lisa stood up, finally turning to face me as she explained. "When Lilith first came to Luke, she was looking for someone that simply fits the description of you. She had no idea what your name was or anything like that. She was simply looking for a ‘little girl with black hair and silver eyes’. She already had contacts in the city and they led her to some people who have seen someone that exactly fit this description."

"The Lightbringers Vessel."

"Their crew, yes." She nodded. "And at this point, I just met you— the companion of the Dwarf who was seen with this exact same girl."

I paused, looking up at Lisa wide eyed. "You sold me out?"

"No—" She raised her hand up placatingly. "I didn’t do anything with this information. I was in desperate need of money and you were definitely a curious client, but I wouldn’t have sold your information to anyone as it would compromise my contract with you… at least, until our job with you was finished, of course."

"Wait, but The Lightbringers Vessel was…" I trailed off, frowning. They were following us, of course; at the time, I had thought it was the Elise looking to force Lisa and Jack onto their side. But if Lilith had already gotten control of the ship at that point, it would not make sense for them to do that.

And since they were after me, that meant Lisa and Jack’s own crew were after me too. Which meant—

"Your crew sold me out?"

"Our men did," Lisa corrected me. "And they were probably going to betray Jack and myself too, tired of our stubbornness, I guess. That’s why they didn’t tell us of their plan.

"They’re sailors, so they must’ve heard somehow that someone in charge of The Lightbringers Vessel was searching for a little girl accompanying a Dwarf. And when I told them you two were our new clients, they must’ve decided that all the years they spent working with us was worth less than the gold Lilith and the Church was willing to pay them."

"I… see." I had a hand on my chin, tightly gripping it as I considered this information. "And you’re trying to say that people would be on the lookout for not just me, but Gennady too, right?"

"Yes and no," she said, sighing. "I wasn’t finished just yet." She turned to Gennady and stuck a hand out. "Can I have a drink please? This next part is hard."

"Uh, no."

"Ugh fine." The young woman rubbed at her temples before looking back at me; her brows arched darkly over her forehead as she began, "Well, the thing is, they aren’t just on the lookout for you anymore. Someone— he had been happily taken care of by Jack, don’t worry— told Lilith that I was working with Ginah’s Crew and you, and they were trying to bribe and threaten me into revealing where you were hiding."

I froze as the smuggler— former smuggler?— quickly continued.

"Of course, I don’t plan on selling you out. I don’t think it’d be very good on my conscience to be responsible for the death of a child like you. But if I’m placed under the blade and forced to talk, I can’t promise I won’t leak anything."

I stood there for a moment, unable to speak and staring at her. Finally, I regained my sense and snapped at her. "How could you do that?"

Lisa backed up quickly, putting both her hands up. "I haven’t done anything! I was just saying—"

"That you’ll just betray me later! That you’ll be fine leaving me for dead!"

I was angry. I didn’t know why I was angry— didn’t I expect this? That Lisa was actually a traitor for the Elise?

"No!" she quickly said. "That is not what I said! I didn’t say I’ll be fine with it—"

"But you’ll still do it!" I pointed accusingly at her.

"And that’s why I came here, Melas. Because I don’t want to do that. I don’t want it to come to that."

I wanted to say something; I almost couldn’t resist the urge to reject whatever she came to tell me without even hearing it. But I knew I was just frustrated. I would simply be laying my grievances with the situation on her, and that was not right. So I bit my tongue, choosing to listen instead.

"It doesn’t have to come to that," she said. "Saintess Lilith will continue pursuing you, yes. She will try to take you in for whatever reason you refuse to disclose with us. However, you don’t have to fight her alone.

"You don’t have to convince all of us to help you, Melas. Because most of us already want to help you. After you left— Braz, Kai, and even Jack tried to convince Ginah to help you. You’ve aided us all when we needed your help. It only makes sense that we’d want to offer you our help back."

"It doesn’t matter," I said, drawing my lips into a thin line. "As long as Ginah doesn’t want to help me, it won’t make a difference. I still won’t get to the Taw Kingdom."

Lisa titled her head to the side, eyeing me with scrutiny. "You don’t realize it, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ginah wants to help you," she said, smiling.

"What?" I narrowed my eyes, staring at the satisfied look plastered on Lisa’s face. "No she doesn’t. She turned me down."

"Well, you’re wrong about that. She didn’t turn you down. She wanted you to give her something to convince her to help you. A reason to get involved."

"I…" I trailed off. Was that really what Ginah was trying to get out of me? I was so certain she would just leave me for dead— that was the logical choice, after all.

But people were not rational creatures; I was aware that I didn’t always act in my utmost best interests, yet I did not consider others were the same as me. For one to only make the right decision, they would have to be some sort of… god.

My eyes flickered as I remembered the jerk god who killed me and put me in this world for his own reasons— who was responsible for the Abominations that had brought too many deaths to count. No, I thought. Either gods aren’t perfect either, or he was no god at all.

I looked back up at Lisa and saw her eyes were twinkling; she knew I was still keeping something from her, just like when we first met. I had secrets, and while many of them were revealed, I still held some out of stubbornness. One which I didn’t need anymore.

"So, what can you give Ginah?" she asked. "What can you give us to get us to help you?"

I closed my eyes and exhaled deeply. I knew Ginah— the pirate Captain who was in charge of the life of so many. Who held it to herself to protect those that sought her out. To save a city and possibly a country from something that could bring it to ruins. But there was a different Ginah. One that was tired. One I knew that wanted something else.

"I might just be able to do that," I said.

Lisa nodded, then offered me a hand to stand up. "Well then, what are you waiting for? Let’s go speak with Ginah."

I eyed the hand for just a second before taking it. I stood up, lowering my bag back down to the floor. I paused as she gestured for us to go. "What’s wrong?"

"Why?" I asked, looking up at Lisa. "Why would you want to help me?"

"Because," she said, snorting, "I’m not a terrible person."

"Is that really it?"

"Well, no. I also kind of like you, Melas. You’re… odd. And slightly scary at times when you threaten me." I grimaced but she just grinned.

"I’m sorry."

"Don’t be." Lisa raised her shoulders in a shrug. "I had known you were eccentric when we first met, and as I said, I was curious about you then too. But now that I’ve gotten to know you more, I can’t just let you die to some Saintess, can I?"

I hesitated, looking up at the young woman. Could I trust her? I had been torn over that for the entirety of the time I had known her. I thought money could buy her loyalty— and perhaps it did at first.

But that was not something that could be held forever. Trust was something you had to give others. No one would ever trust someone who didn’t trust them back. So I had to trust her— to trust them. That this plan I had hatched in my head would work. That they would not betray me and leave me for dead.

So I spoke slowly, mustering up a smile. "Thank you."

She just smiled back. "You know, you aren’t so intimidating when you’re not wearing that mask."

I scowled, but Lisa just started laughing. As if she told some sort of funny joke even though she didn’t. And yet, I slowly felt my face relaxing as I laughed with her too.

Then from behind her, Gennady snorted. "She really does, doesn’t she?"

The two of us paused, turning to stare at the Dwarf who had been standing at the doorway the entire time. He furrowed his brows.

"...what?"

Lisa just sighed and I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"It’s nothing," I said.

"Wait, did you two forget I was here?"

"Come on, Melas. Let’s talk to Ginah."

"C’mon, I didn’t mean to ruin your moment! It’s not my fault you lot forgot about me!"

He ran after us as we left the room and headed back to speak with Ginah. And when I spoke to her— convinced her to help me— all I could do at that point was trust that this plan of ours would work.

Chapter 36: Trust

"Thank you, Lisa," I said, tipping my pointed hat at her.

"Of course, it’s not a problem at all." The young woman smiled innocently back at me.

The two of us walked up the gangplank and onto the ship; I set foot onto the wooden deck, throwing my gaze around this ship for the first time. This was not the ship that had been a temporary home for the first time. That had not been a very large ship— almost like a brig, but slightly larger and made out of more sturdy materials. This ship on the other hand was much larger, yet far more fragile looking— it definitely wouldn’t hold up if attacked by spellcasters more powerful than myself. It was built for long travel at sea, not for combat or boarding other ships.

Ginah nodded to us from where she stood with one hand on the helm. The pirate Captain then turned to address the rest of her crew.

"We sail!" she bellowed, her voice resounding throughout the cavern.

I grimaced, rubbing at my ears. "She’s loud, isn’t she?"

"That’s what it takes to be a leader, I guess," Lisa said. "I’m not one, so I wouldn’t know."

"Right." I glanced one last time back at the cove as we slowly left our hideout. It was empty— the beach was completely cleared out, as if no one had ever stayed there. "I still can’t believe you convinced Ginah to escort me to Jahar’taw."

She just shrugged nonchalantly. "You did it yourself. I just gave you a tiny push."

"Right," I said, turning to meet her gaze. "Still, thank you."

"Don’t thank me just yet." The young woman shook her head. "Thank me if it works out."

"I really hope it will…" I trailed off, looking out into the dark night sky ahead. It was cloudy, but not exactly raining. However, I couldn’t ignore the possibility that it would become a violent storm later on. "It’s a smart plan though."

"Take advantage of nature— of what would normally be an impediment. That’s what us smugglers do."

I grinned and she smiled; since she could see my facial expressions, she was no longer as uncomfortable around me. Perhaps it was the fact that I was a kid that disarmed her apprehension, or maybe she was just trying to gain my trust again in a way that served to benefit her. I wasn’t sure, but I had to trust her.

I had to trust them. All of them.

Our ship exited the mouth of the cavern, entering the open air where I was met with a thin layer of chill that wrapped around the night like a cold blanket. A shiver ran up my spine, but I dismissed it as nothing more than a result of the cool winds that threatened to blow my pointed hat off, and not a premonition of what was to come.

We had just entered open waters when I caught sight of the first ship coming from our right. It was not The Lightbringer’s Vessel— it had sunk during the battle in the docks of Luke. However, I recognized the design of it as one belonging to a mana ship.

Accompanying it from behind came two smaller ships. They weren’t mana ships like the first, although they were smaller and quite evidently designed for speed over anything else. And yet, I couldn’t pay too much attention to either of those ships as it was drawn to the figure standing on the first ship.

Saintess Lilith was standing on its deck, spear in hand, and while I couldn’t quite make out her facial expression, I was pretty sure she was smiling at me. It was an ambush.

"What… how…" I stared in shock as the ships came closer and closer. But they weren’t just getting closer to us— we were getting closer to them! I whirled around and faced Lisa. "You—"

The young woman jumped out of the way as I drew my pistol as fast as I could, instantly firing multiple bolts of energy that struck the wooden bulwark of our ship. She barely dodged out of the way as Jack came charging at me from behind.

He had both his short swords already out in hand, and he easily sliced apart the mana bullets I sent at him. I barely rolled out of the way as he tried to tackle me to the ground. I brought out a hand, magic circle beginning to form in it, before I was struck across the back by Braz.

The pirate kicked me, nearly causing me to stumble, but I managed to catch myself and whirl around to face him. I sent a Force Binding out at him, however he was fast. I knew he was fast. He easily danced out of the way of the snare, closing in the distance between the both of us.

But I planned for that. The Frost Javelin was already forming above my head. Braz’s eyes widened as he saw it adjust its position mid air, its tip turning to face him—

And the icy projectile shattered as Kai blasted it with his rifle. My gaze snapped at the man as he lowered his weapon, wisps of smoke coming out of its barrel from the powerful shot. I cursed at him.

"Hey now, should a little girl like you really be saying words like that?"

I turned around to see Saintess Lilith standing on top of the wooden bulwark, staring down at me with the eyes of a hawk finally seeing its prey. Her ship was still over 30 feet away, and yet she somehow crossed the distance with a single jump, landing nimbly and quietly I hadn’t even realized she was there until she said a word.

Both my hands snapped up, spell circles quickly forming on them and in the air above me. I had never cast more than two intermediate spells at once before, but my adrenaline was pumping and I was moving without thinking. Somehow, it worked and the Explosive Orbs came into existence alongside the Stone Spear, hovering just behind me as I sent a Wind Blade and Fireball at her.

Lilith simply let the blade of wind hit her— the aura around her protecting her from the attack. The Fireball was a moment slower, and she actually blocked it with her spear, knocking it aside like it was some sort of baseball thrown by a kid.

She flashed me a grin before she flipped over the Stone Spear, moving much faster than the rapid projectile with ease. She flew through the air, coming at me as I panic rolled out of the way. I left my Explosive Orbs behind, spreading them out so she wouldn’t be able to go around them.

The Saintess simply took the blast, the explosions creating a brief shimmer in the aura protecting her. It remained intact, of course. However, there was clearly some damage caused by the attack. There was no way I could shatter it with a single spell, but perhaps if it accumulated enough damage, I could actually hurt her.

I put more distance between myself and Lilith as I readied my next spell.

"Just give it up, Aria," she said casually, spinning her spear before suddenly stopping and bringing its butt down on the wood ground with a thud. A dangerous look came over her face as she continued. "You’ll only get yourself hurt if this continues. Which— fine by me. But if I accidentally kill you, how can I get you to confess your sins to the Church?"

I grit my teeth in frustration. I aimed a finger at her, ignoring her warnings as I cast a Lightning Strike. There was a crackle, and the lightning bolt came crashing down from the sky right at her. Lilith just sighed.

"Alright, that’s enough of this."

She brought her spear up, intercepting the lightning. It flashed for a moment, and a partial red dome of energy covered her from the spell. Saintess Lilith held the barrier up like it was an umbrella, letting the lightning splash off of it before the barrier dissipated.

Lilith widened her stance, finally gripping her spear with both hands as I felt a surge of mana come from within her. She took a step forward as I braced myself for whatever she was about to do—

"Got her!"

I felt someone come up at me from behind. A pair of rugged arms roughly wrapped around me, pinning me to the ground as I struggled to break free. But I couldn’t. Braz was too strong for me.

I wriggled on the ground for a moment as he clasped both my hands behind my back. "Let go of me! Let go of—"

There was a clink as a cool pair of manacles closed around my arms, binding them together. I froze as the old feeling of being chained up sent a shudder down my spine. I began to thrash about in the ground as Lilith and Braz backed away from me, allowing me to move once again.

I turned to the Saintess as she took a skip and a step back. Did she really think a pair of chains could stop me? I had magic. I was no longer the same girl I was before, unable to act just because a piece of metal bound my hands together. I reached for the mana in the air, preparing to cast a Fireball—

And I froze. I could feel absolutely nothing.

"Antimagic manacle," she said, smiling sweetly down at me. "Try all you want, but no matter what you do, you won’t be able to cast magic while wearing these."

"Wha… how—" I was speechless. There was an item that could cancel out magic? How was that possible?

"Designed by the greatest minds of the Holy Xan Empire. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard about them before. They’re brand new— still in trial. We’re not even sure if there’s a limit to how much magic it can nullify. However, after all the problems your mother and the Shadow’s Evangelium caused the Church for so long, they decided to commission these for development. So we can actually detain you heretics for a proper trial rather than giving you the painless deaths you don’t deserve on the battlefield."

I just looked wide eyed at the Saintess as she finished her explanation. Braz and Jack picked me up by the side as I said not a word. Lisa and Ginah came up from the side to talk with Lilith.

"Where’s our payment?"

"I told you, you’ll get it when we deliver her to the Church. Don’t give me that look. You can even keep her until then— make sure I don’t run off before you get your reward."

"What do we do with her, boss?"

"Lock her in some place she can’t cause any trouble."

I ignored the conversation between Lilith, Ginah, and Braz. Instead, I focused only on Lisa as I passed by her.

"How could you?" I asked, voice quivering.

She shrugged. "I told you, I like money."

I was dragged down to the bottom of the ship by Jack and Braz as Lilith taunted me. "Next time, try picking better friends, Aria." She started laughing as if she just made the funniest joke in the world— like the maniac that she was.

And I couldn’t help but snicker as well.

***

One week ago.

Ginah placed her hands on the table, leaning forward onto them as she watched Melas leave the room. She wanted to sigh in relief.

She had been nervous. She knew that helping the girl would have only been detrimental to her and her crew, so the fact that Melas chose no to press the issue any further made her feel like a burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

The Dwarf— Gennady— chased after his companion, but stopped at the door to leave one last comment. "You… you’ll really leave a child like her to die?"

She flinched, drawing her lips to a thin line. "That’s not what I’m doing. I’m simply doing what’s best for my crew and Melas knows it too."

He shook his head and left the room. Ginah did not watch him go. She tried to focus on what came next now that this problem had been resolved by itself. Like for example, where to evacuate the remaining noncombatants within her group in the off chance that the Saintess tracked them down.

Even if Ginah had officially cut ties with Melas now, she still worked with her for a period of time. Lilith would surely want some answers as to where Melas had gone, and considering her reputation even here in Vitae, Ginah was sure she would resort to violence if necessary.

And that was not even the main problem Ginah had to deal with now. The Elise was unofficially gone— soon to be official— and there would be a massive power vacuum in Luke’s underworld. She had to participate in the power grab, else all her efforts so far would have been to waste.

The pirate Captain was not too enthused to take part in such activities, but it was necessary if she wanted the city to retain some of the stability it currently had. If things devolved too badly, her efforts to destroy the Elise would have been completely counterproductive.

Ginah rubbed at her temples as she considered what next had to be done. She was so concerned with this problem, she didn’t even notice Lisa leave the room. Only when Kai placed a hand on her shoulder did she look up.

"Hey, you alright?"

"I’m fine," she said, giving him a soft smile.

Kai hesitated, averting his gaze for a moment, before trying to reassure her. "Don’t worry. I know it was a hard decision for you to make. Personally, I disagree with it, but I’ll stand by it when we have to explain it to the others."

She blinked in confusion a few times, processing what he said. Hard decision? What is he talking about—

Then she realized that Kai was referring to Melas. Ginah frowned, taking a step back. "What?" she sputtered. "That’s not what I’m worried about at all!"

"Oh, I had assumed that had been bothering you."

"And why should it bother me?" Ginah said, exasperated and taking on a defensive posture. "I don’t owe her anything, do I? She was the one who didn’t tell us the Church— and a Saintess, as a matter of fact— was after her. I have a dozen other things to be worried about."

Kai narrowed his eyes. "Calm down, Ginah. You’re stressed and tired, I know. And while I do agree that this is the best course of action for us, I would say that being satisfied with leaving a child to die is far too callous of you."

The pirate Captain snapped. "And are you going to badger me to help her too, Kai? When doing so only guarantees our death?"

"That is explicitly what I’m not saying. I..." The Quartermaster was interrupted by a loud and clearly audible ahem. The two turned to Jack and Braz who were still awkwardly standing to the side. Kai pursed his lips as he gestured at the door. "Uh, could we get some privacy please?"

Jack simply grunted in affirmation and turned to leave the room. Braz grinned and waved at them with his fingers as he left. When they were gone, Ginah sighed and laid her hand on Kai’s chest.

"I’m sorry for getting mad at you. I’m just… tired."

"I know," he said, not moving to push her off him.

The two stayed like that for a moment, until she began to feel better again. The stress that she had felt slowly washing over her. When she finally broke away from him, she was a lot more calm— a lot more understanding.

"I’ve just been worried about a lot of things. Ever since the Elise came, I’ve been constantly overwhelmed. It looked like an impossible battle to me for so long, but I couldn’t help myself. So many people were being hurt, I couldn’t just stay out of it. And I knowingly brought you all into this fight with me."

Kai just nodded, not responding as she continued venting her frustrations.

"When things started going our way, I thought it was too good to be true. And this proved me right. I knew we couldn’t relax once we had taken care of the Elise. But I thought we could at least rest for a week, and not worry about… this."

He simply listened. That was why she liked him. More than just being her right hand man, more than just being by her side ever since she seized power from her father, he was always so understanding of her. He did not offer straightforward solutions which she had clearly considered beforehand, treating her like an idiot.

Instead, he offered her his support. Everyone in her crew always did. That was why she knew they wouldn’t have argued with her even if she decided to leave Melas for dead. "Whatever you choose to do next, as long as you have the right reasons behind it, I will not disagree with it."

"But what if I don’t have the right reasons, Kai?" Ginah asked, heaving a tired breath. "Sometimes, I just don’t want to do this anymore. But—"

"But you can’t just stop, can you?"

He chuckled as she gave him a mock glare. "Don’t interrupt your Captain, jerk."

"Right, right." Kai cast a glance off to the side, towards the door. He spoke softly. "I know you’re too good to do that. You’ll feel responsible for not helping them. That was why you opposed your father. That was why you took over his crew and mutinied him.

"And yet, I want you to be happy. I don’t want to see you like this. That was why I helped you go against your father. But you’re not responsible for all the lives in Luke, Ginah. You never were."

"What are you saying?" Ginah asked, raising an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "Nothing you didn’t already know. You just do you, and I’ll do my part in helping you do that."

She just stared at Kai for a moment. Then she sighed. "You have a way with words, don’t you?" Before he could respond, she cut him off with a shake of her head. "A terrible way with words."

"That’s why you’re the Captain and I’m not."

Ginah snorted, her mood momentarily lightened after this talk with Kai. But she knew that once this moment was over, she would have to return to worrying— to planning what to do next. She hesitated, looking up at Kai.

"What if I decide to…" she trailed off, not finishing the thought. It was a stupid thought, one she always had whenever the stakes were raised— whenever the pressure was at its highest. What if I decide to give up? To just leave and stop caring about others?

She knew it was just her tired self talking. But she didn’t even dare vocalize those words, for it she did, she feared that Kai and the others would just go along with her.

"Yes, Ginah?" Kai looked at her curiously. She was tempted to give in— admit her worries. But before she could make a decision or even open her mouth, a figure approached the doorway.

Three figures, actually. Lisa, Gennady, and… Melas.

Ginah bit her tongue as she saw the young girl return to the room. Why was she back so soon? Kai was confused as well. He turned to Melas and cocked his head.

"Leaving already?"

"No," she said, responding instantly. Ginah narrowed her eyes, looking over the little girl once more. Just earlier she had been timid and hesitant— refusing to answer most of the questions Ginah had for her. And yet now, she was… more like her usual self. The same defiant masked girl Ginah had gotten to know for the last month.

Melas folded her arms. "I changed my mind."

Ginah felt her hands balling up into a fist. She was changing her mind to now? Just after Ginah had thought it had already been settled, Melas now came back to bring it up once more? The pirate Captain forced her hands to unclench, trying to calm herself down. "You already made your decision, didn’t you? You said you were going to leave."

"I didn’t decide anything." She turned to face Ginah, defiance in her gaze. "You made your decision to leave me on your own. I am simply coming back to clear things up."

"Clear things up?" Ginah replied coolly, suppressing her mild annoyance at having more problems on her plate once again. "How will you do that?"

"By telling you the truth," Melas said simply. She walked over to the table, stopping just in front of Ginah. She looked up at the pirate Captain, not averting her gaze as she spoke. "You made a lot of false assumptions about me. And you asked me a lot of questions— which I did not answer. So I am here to tell you everything."

"Everything?"

"Yes, everything about me." The girl did not hesitate. She did not back down. Despite having been so secretive for the entirety of the time Ginah knew her, she was now choosing to spill it all out?

Ginah frowned. "If you’re trying to guilt trip us—"

"I’m not," Melas cut her off. "This is more for me to finally say, than it is for you to hear. Once I’m done explaining myself, I will put my offer on the table. Then you can decide whether you want to help me or not."

Ginah considered this, chewing her lower lip. She wanted to say ‘no’, to simply reject whatever offer before it was made. But Kai was obviously interested in hearing what Melas had to say. Braz and Jack had returned too, just for this. So she acquiesced. "Fine."

Nodding, Melas cast her gaze around the room, regarding her audience. She seemed apprehensive, almost unwilling to speak. It was almost familiar to Ginah. The pirate Captain recognized that feeling. And yet, unlike Ginah, Melas shook aside her worries and began her admission.

"Earlier, you asked me whether I knew the Church was after me. The simple answer to that is this: I did." Before anyone could say anything, Melas put up her hand and continued. "However, the situation is more complicated than it seems.

"It’s quite obvious to all of you from the moment you’ve met me that I don’t necessarily believe in the Church. The very fact that I’m a heretic is enough of a clue into this. But I am not just any ordinary ‘heretic’. I am the daughter of the Fiend— Valeria Aimy Corinna. Or Aria, as I knew my mom."

Ginah straightened. The Fiend? she thought, feeling her brows crease. She had grown up hearing of the Fiend’s crimes, and despite trying to approach the topic of magic with an open mind, she had always condemned the Fiend for her actions. "You do realize this isn’t winning you any points, right?"

"I told you, I’m not trying to win any pity points." Melas rolled her eyes. "And whatever you think of my mom— yes, you’re probably right. I realize now that you know her as this terrible and evil person, and that there’s some truth to it."

The black haired girl closed her eyes, as if reminiscing for a moment. She continued slowly.

"But I didn’t know her like that. To me, my mom was the kindest person in the world. And she raised me that way. She refused to teach me magic— she didn’t want me to live the way she did before she gave birth to me. And yet, still they came for her.

"I’m not going to be the one to say whether it was justice or not, because I know that we’ll disagree on the answer. And that’s not why I’m here. But even after killing my mother, they came for me, because I was my mother’s daughter. Because I could do magic.. Tell me, should I be culpable for my mother’s crimes? Is magic really something I should lose my life over, when it’s because of them I was forced into using magic?"

Ginah didn’t feel like responding to that, but Melas met her gaze challengingly. She wanted a response, so Ginah gave her a half hearted one. "Uh, I mean, it does violate Holy Law…?"

"That’s fair," Melas said, nodding, "if it was a law written by the Goddess herself, and not by the corrupt and greedy men using her name to their advantage."

The pirate Captain certainly wasn’t the most religious individual, but everyone in the room knew the ‘Holy Law’ first conceived as a justification for the First Holy War was often revised by the Church to suit their own interests— until the Great Hero Xander rewrote it entirely, making it now immutable. And yet, it was in the same amendment did he claim that magic was something that could be forgiven if the heretic was repentant. Something everyone knew he wrote up to protect the Demon Lord’s daughter from persecution.

"What’s your point then?" Ginah asked, still unconvinced by what Melas was trying to say. "The Church is unfairly targeting you, so we should protect you and risk their ire then?"

"It’s something you all, as criminals, know well enough: that the law isn’t perfect." Melas spread her arms around. "If the law was perfect, I wouldn’t be hunted by the Church right now. If it was perfect, I wouldn’t be wanted in the Free Lands for being a slave."

Ginah blinked and Gennady sputtered. "You were a slave, Melas?" the Dwarf exclaimed. "Why did you never tell me this?"

"I didn’t trust you then," Melas said, her silver eyes glinting as she met his gaze. "But I do now."

"Lass…" he trailed off, but Ginah stepped in before he could say more.

"That doesn’t matter," she said. "Sure, we’re criminals. We understand that more than anyone. So what?" She was getting exasperated. If Melas was trying to guilt her into helping— it was almost working. And Ginah wanted it to work. But she knew it would be the end of her crew. So that was why she felt frustrated.

"So," Melas started, turning to face the pirate Captain, "aren’t you tired of living like this?"

"...what?"

Everyone in the room looked at her, a confused look on their faces. She ignored them, singling out Ginah.

"I mean you. You’re tired, aren’t you? I saw it in your face when we first met, and I see it now. You’re exhausted. You’re sick and tired of living like this. I can’t say I fully understand your situation, but you and I are alike, aren’t we? You just want to help others without feeling like the world itself is going against you."

Ginah’s eyes flashed. "You know nothing about me."

"I know enough." Melas shrugged. "Lisa told me you killed your father because he was a terrible person. You could’ve just lived comfortably, protected by an abhorrent individual. But you didn’t— it didn’t weigh well in your conscience. So you killed him. I found myself in that situation too, just half a year ago. And that’s why I can’t join the Dark Crusaders.

"You’re a good person, Ginah. Deep down inside of you, you just want to help others, but you don’t want the weight of the world on your shoulders. You wonder to yourself, why must you be a criminal to do that. Why must others come after you for doing what’s right? It makes no sense, doesn’t it?"

Ginah wanted to deny it, but she knew it was true. This was a child, and yet she broke it down so perfectly. Just what did she go through to know all this? She couldn’t have been just saying this for the sake of it. Ginah knew that Melas was speaking from the heart here— that she truly felt that way too.

"Fine," Ginah finally conceded. "You’re right. But that doesn’t change things. Helping you will do us no good. I have no reason to help you."

"Except— you do," Melas said. "Ignoring your conscience, you have two other reasons. The first is the fact that we made a deal. You claim to be pirates with principles, no? Going against our deal would go against everything you’ve worked hard to establish so far. But more than that, I can help you."

"And how’s that?"

"I can help you escape this life of crime."

This time, Ginah wasn’t the only one who had a dubious look on her face. Everyone seemed to doubt what Melas had to say, but she was offering Ginah specifically a deal, so they didn’t opine. She continued.

"My friend here"— Melas gestured at Gennady, her Dwarf escort— "has many connections in Taw. He has offered to use his contacts to give me asylum in his country. To revoke my status as a heretic there. Or at least, erase all traces of it so I can start a new life. I’m sure such a thing could be arranged for you too."

Ginah frowned. "I’m not going to leave my crew behind."

"And you don’t have to," she said. "You can bring them with you."

The pirate Captain hesitated. That was a really alluring idea. But still, she had things to take care of in Luke. "And you expect me to leave Luke in chaos as I go and live a happy, new life in Taw?"

"No." Melas shook her head. "You’re coming to Taw specifically to help your people in Luke

"As I said, Gennady has many contacts. He knows factory owners and people from other industries. Now that the Elise is gone, I’m sure many of these factories and companies owned by them would be going bankrupt soon without their drug money to support them. That means a lot of people going out of a job.

"If you come to Taw, Gennady would be able to get you to speak with some of these people. You probably can’t get all of them to help you, but I’m sure one or two would hear your case. If they come to Luke— and Laxis— to broaden their horizons, you’d be helping a lot of people. You could increase the standard of living, which would also decrease crime, no?"

She considered this for a moment. What Melas was proposing made sense. Of course it did. And Laxis did have a lot of natural resources, which was why they had survived even in spite of the initial blockade and subsequent trade embargo by the Holy Xan Empire. But still…

"If these guys wanted to come into our country to invest in the first place, they’d have done it long ago."

"Sometimes, people don’t go into places they don’t know," Melas said. "However, if someone they know pushes them in that direction, they might then stay in that path."

Ginah grit her teeth. She was actually considering this offer. This… deal. She didn’t like that she was. But it was something that appealed to both her logic and her desires.

"And if it doesn’t work?" she asked uncertainly. "So far, all of this sounds like empty promises. What if you can’t deliver on any of them?"

"I have no choice," Melas replied without hesitation. "But this is all I can offer you. You just have to trust me."

Trust her? Ginah had no reason to do that. But she never did, did she? She trusted Melas back when she was a masked Goblin capable of magic. However, they were pushed to do so because they were in a difficult position. The situation was different now.

But Melas had revealed everything she had been hiding. She was in a difficult position too now, wasn’t she? That was why she was trusting that this gambit— this deal would come through.

The pirate Captain turned to her sole advisor. "What do you think, Kai?"

"What do I think?" The Quartermaster rubbed his chin in thought. "Personally, I’d say it’s a terrible idea."

Melas didn’t deflate or show any obvious reaction, but Ginah saw the flicker in her eyes. The uncertainty that she was hiding, and the disbelief at what Kai had said.

"So we shouldn’t take it then?" Ginah asked, glad that Kai was being her voice of reason. However, she was immediately taken by surprise by his next response.

"No. I think we should." Kai turned to Ginah, quickly speaking before she could interrupt him. "It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. The chance to not only help those we can, but do good in a way that goes beyond our tiny influence? It’s a risk we should take."

"I…" Ginah trailed off. "But that doesn’t make sense. If we all go to Taw, we’d be leaving behind a city in chaos. A chaos that we helped cause! We’d be abandoning our responsibility!"

"That’s right." Kai nodded. "Which is exactly my problem with this deal as well."

"See? So we should turn it down."

"But we can alter the deal, can’t we?" The Quartermaster turned to Melas. "You’d be willing to make some amendments, right?"

"Yes," Melas said without hesitation. "As long as the plan is the same and we go to the Taw Kingdom."

"Good." Kai turned back to Ginah and spoke to her softly. "Then we just have to split up, Ginah."

"...split up?" The pirate Captain gave him a confused look.

He smiled as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "You take anyone who wants to go with you to the Taw Kingdom. Anyone who wants a new life— one where they no longer have to live a life of crime just to get by. And I’ll stay in Luke with those who are willing to stay. We’ll do everything in our power to calm things down for now, while you work in Taw to bring us a better future."

Ginah froze. "But that’s…" she trailed off. "I can’t leave you, Kai. I can’t just—"

"It’s only temporary," Kai said. "We’ve been together for a decade. A year or two apart won’t be anything too bad. And you’ve been fighting so hard all your life. You deserve to rest and relax a little bit, don’t you?"

But still, she protested. "I’m the Captain, aren’t I? I should be the one staying here while you go with them to Taw."

"No. It’s specifically because you’re the Captain that you have to go. You’re the charismatic leader, after all. There’s no way I’ll be able to convince anyone— not even a drunk Dwarf— to come to our backwater country for philanthropy or business. But I can manage logistics. I can hold things down while you’re gone."

Ginah looked between Melas and Kai. The two of them had a determined look in their gaze. Melas with her arms folded, and Kai with a reassuring smile.

"Trust me, Ginah."

She had always trusted him, ever since he agreed to help her take down her father. So why did things have to change now? This deal would solve all the current problems Ginah was faced with… if it worked out.

But if things didn’t work out, it would only serve to cause more problems. But she trusted Kai, didn’t she? So finally, after much internal debates, she gave in.

"I trust you, Kai." She turned back to the waiting Melas and nodded. "Fine. We’ll take your deal."

The young girl released a breath she had been holding in relief. She held a shaky hand out and smiled. "I promise you, you won’t regret it."

"So what now?" Ginah asked after shaking hands with her, still feeling nervous about doing this. She had just made a deal with a child! Anyone would normally think it was ridiculous. But Ginah ignored that thought for the moment.

"Well, first I have to get Jack and Lisa’s help. Lisa said she would help me, and she’s even willing to come to Taw with us since she has nowhere left to go."

"None at all," the young woman said with a smile. "Most of my bridges in Luke have been completely burned. But it all depends on what Jack has to say."

"Righ," Melas said, nodding. She directed her attention to Jack. "What do you think? I know you don’t like Dwarves and all…"

"Lisa has a point," he grunted. "And I don’t have a problem with all Dwarves. I have a problem with a Dwarf. We have nothing else left in Luke, and if we’re going to the Taw Kingdom, I can finally resolve that problem."

Gennady sat up from where he had been seated. He turned to the smuggler who avoided his gaze. "Hey, wait! If ya have a problem with only one Dwarf, what’s your problem with me?"

Jack scowled. "Shut it. The way you talk reminds me of him."

He sputtered. "But all Dwarves talk like me—"

Melas ignored their conversation, muttering under her breath. "Huh, uh, that was easier than I thought it would be."

Ginah turned her attention to the young girl as the argument in the room drew to a close with Lisa stopping Jack from continuing. She regarded Melas optimistically. "So, we just have to bring you to Taw, huh? That doesn’t sound too difficult."

"Nope." Melas hesitated. She glanced between everyone in the room, an uncertain look on her face. "It’s a tad bit more difficult than that."

"What do you mean?"

She took a deep breath. "We’ll have to… deal with Saintess Lilith first."

This time, everyone— not just Ginah— raised objections. But Melas quickly waved her hands, silencing them.

"We have no choice. If we deal with her now, the Church might decide that it’s not worth pursuing me in such a direct fashion any further. But if we don’t deal with her now, she’ll come back again in the future and cause a lot more problems than what we’d have to deal with right now."

"That makes sense," Lisa said, nodding. "But how do you expect us to take care of a Saintess."

"Well," Melas sighed. "I have a plan…"

***

Even at the moment, I knew it was such a cliche thing to say— I was internally cringing as I said it. But it was true. I had a plan. And that plan led to the current situation.

Jack and Braz left me in the storage room of the ship; they didn’t treat me too roughly once they were out of sight of Lilith. They set me down and chained my antimagic manacles to a pillar before they turned to leave.

Well, Jack tried to leave, but Braz stayed for a moment to whisper to me. "Sorry about the rough treatment."

"It’s fine," I said, before gesturing at the door. "Go before you arouse any suspicion."

"Right."

He was about to turn around to leave before I quickly added.

"And thank you."

The pirate paused. He glanced back at me, then shot me a grin. "Thank me once this is all over and we’ve dealt with that insane woman."

I met his gaze for a moment, staring into the golden eyes of his. Then I nodded, before he finally left the room. I watched him as he took his leave, heaving a sigh as I leaned back on the pillar I was chained to.

It was no more than a minute until I heard the creaking of the wooden crate behind me and the hushed whispers of a Dwarf.

"Pst, lass." He tried to get my attention. "All clear?"

"For now. But your role doesn’t come in until later. What if you get caught?" I glared back at him.

"Just wanted to check in on ya," he said, ignoring it. "Think everything will go according to plan?"

"I hope it does. Because if it doesn’t…" I trailed off.

Gennady just snorted. "You’re always so grim, aren’t ya? Relax for a moment. It’ll all go smoothly."

"But what if something goes wrong?" I asked, looking up at the ceiling. "What if they decide to betray us? Rat you out and truly hand me over to the Saintess and the Church?"

It was a fear that had been eating me up inside since we concocted this plan days ago— before we had the rest of the cove evacuated and set the stage for the fake ambush. Everything seemed to be going according to plan, yet it could fall apart any moment.

Anything ranging from Lisa deciding that she wanted to take all the gold for herself and Jack, to Ginah and Kai having second thoughts. Perhaps Lilith might decide she didn’t want to uphold her end of the deal and slaughter every single one of them while I was down here locked up and unable to do anything about it, effectively ruining our plan.

Even bad weather stood to threaten what happened next— if our ship was tipped over by a large wave or if the storm somehow ruined our masts, we might be forced to migrate to one of Lilith’s ships. And that made our plan all the more difficult to achieve, possibly even ruining it.

For all these reasons, I was worried; stress gripped my entire being in spite of me going through with this plan. And it must have shown only my face as Gennady reassured me.

"Come on, Melas. You’ve done your part, now it’s up to them lot. You have to trust that they play their roles well."

"Right," I said. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. Trust. It was something I had so little of before; it was something I had robbed from me by a young man who saved my life. But things were different now— things had been different for a while.

I had to trust that things would go well, even if I feared that I would once again find myself bound by my hands with my freedom robbed from me once again. I had to trust that the pirates, Jack, and Lisa would not choose to betray me just because the tides suddenly seemed to shift, even if— no, in spite of the fact that it was a very real possibility.

That was what trust entailed. It wasn’t something incredibly deep or difficult to parse. That was the very definition of trust itself.

So I opened my eyes. I looked away from the Dwarf, and out the porthole to the side. The waves were rather calm— not what I was hoping for. But the weather out in the rough ocean was unpredictable, and if there was one thing you could predict, it was a storm.

And I simply waited there, trusting that things would work out. That the tides turned in my favor, and this plan would work out. That my friends would not betray me.

Ginah rested one hand on the helm, turning it as she felt the light breeze of the morning blow against her hair. She didn’t really have to do much— navigating was not an issue since she just had to follow the three ships Lilith had brought with her.

The weather was nice, gentle, and ideal for any ordinary voyage across the sea. But currently? It was not what Ginah wanted.

Melas had outlined a plan to separate Lilith from whatever resources and men she had to corner her. And since they would be out at sea, in this ship that wasn’t built to take a lot of hits, the Saintess wouldn’t be able to use her miracles lest she strand herself in the middle of the ocean faced with terrible an unending stream of sea Monsters— something that even a Saint or Saintess couldn’t possibly survive.

The ocean was dangerous even on a boat, and especially when in the water. Everything had been arranged over the course of the last week, from the fake trap they had set up for Melas, to getting Lilith to be on this ship. Now the rest of the plan hinged on a storm ‘splitting’ them up from Lilith’s escorts.

Well, that would simply make it easier. If by the third day of sailing, the weather didn’t turn for the worse in their favor, Ginah would have to stray away from these three ships in the middle of the night. And unless being a Saintess meant Lilith didn’t have to sleep and was up to stop them, there was no way Ginah wouldn’t be able to do that successfully. A storm only made things more convenient.

Whatever the case was, it would work. The plan had to work. The only possible thing that could ruin this plan was Lilith somehow finding out about it.

Ginah cast a glance at the Saintess who was happily chatting with Lisa. The pirate Captain grimaced at the sight. She did not understand how easily Lisa was able to put up a farce to goad someone into a fake sense of security.

It had always been something that Ginah found unsettling about the young woman. In fact, it took years of working with Lisa before she finally stopped being so skeptical of her. That was how she knew Lisa wasn’t planning some sort of betrayal with the Saintess— Lisa was not evil, even if she valued money.

To be honest, even if Ginah was simply following directions and tailing the ships ahead of them, she knew that they were probably headed to port Xenon. It was the closest port in the Holy Xan Empire to Laxis. A small island in between Vitae and Soli that thrived solely on maritime trade and commerce. And that was where the Saintess would leverage her status to get the gold needed to pay them.

The price she offered them was a steep one. When Ginah heard the sum, she thought Lilith had to be joking. But she wasn’t. 10,000 gold. And that was just how much she was offering Ginah and her crew.

As a pirate, Ginah had obviously seen a lot of money in her time. She had probably made more than double that amount ever since she became the Captain of her crew. Yet earning so much for a single job? That was almost unheard of.

It was the kind of gold small countries or large companies tossed around at each other, not individuals. Perhaps if Ginah wasn’t… well, Ginah, she would’ve taken the gold and betrayed Melas. But leaving Melas to die had been an option, but full on betraying her? That was never an option in her mind.

So when the sails picked up and the waves began to get choppy— when Ginah saw the dark clouds gather and the thunder roar in the distance— Ginah did what she had to do. The wind blew harder and harder as the downpour began. The sky darkened and the ship rocked with the rough sea.

The other ships slowly got smaller and smaller in the distance, almost disappearing behind the thick veil of rain poured down from the sky. It was difficult to navigate through the ocean, after all. And it was really easy to lose your bearings. But it was even easier to lose your bearings when you were actively trying to lose it.

Lisa had Lilith distracted. And when the Saintess came to realize they had lost sight of her ships, it was already too late. She demanded they go to Xenon— that Ginah took her there. But the trap had already been sprung, and it was now time to act.

***

"What’s going on?"

I could hear Lilith’s annoyed voice even before I left the deck below and entered up above into the bright afternoon sun— the dark clouds now gone and the sea was now calm again. Gennady had used one of his mana tools to break the antimagic manacles binding me, and was now escorting me up the stairs to settle this problem.

It all led to this: there was no more turning back. If we failed now, then we would probably die. But my friends trusted that this would work. They trusted me, so I trusted them.

And now, with my staff in hand and Gennady by my side as he inserted the Greater mana crystal I had paid for into his large, tube shaped weapon, we approached the Saintess. She whirled around as she saw me come from the corner of her eyes.

"You…" She glanced between the dozens of pirates— all of Ginah’s most elite fighters— surround her. She stood alone amongst enemies. "So this was a trap, huh?"

"It was," I said simply. "And now we have got you where we want you."

Lilith’s eyes flashed. "Do you really think I can’t kill all of you by myself?" She gripped her spear dangerously as everyone— Ginah, Kai, Jack, Braz— all tensed.

I raised my shoulders in a shrug and pointed at the wooden floor around us. "Not if you don’t want to sink the ship and get yourself killed." Shaking my head, I raised my wooden staff and pointed it at her. "This is not a threat, Saintess. You may think I am some kind of evildoer, but I am not. So here’s my ultimatum: leave me alone, and you will never hear from me ever again. I shall disappear into obscurity in the Taw Kingdom, and you can just claim to your higher ups at the Church that you killed me. It’s a win for everybody, is it not?"

That line of thinking had made sense to me, but apparently it didn’t to the Saintess as she scoffed. "The Church doesn’t even know that you exist. I’m here of my own volition."

I blinked. I exchanged a glance with Lisa who was off to the side, but she looked just as confused as I was. "If that’s the case, then why are you hunting me? Is this a personal vendetta? Did my mother do something terrible to you? If so, then I apologize. But I am not responsible for what she did, so don’t hold me accountable for it."

"That’s not the case either." Lilith sighed helplessly, leaving me even more perplexed. "I have to admit. I don’t even want to do this either. You’ve got fight in you, Aria. I like strong girls— unwilling to back down in the face of adversity."

"Then why are you doing this?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"Because," she said, shaking her head. "If I offer you to the Church in exchange for my freedom, then maybe they’ll finally listen to me. Maybe they’ll strip me from my title of Saintess, and I can finally live the life I want to, not the one they’ve always given me."

I stared at Lilith for a moment, into the darkness of her eyes. The shadow that hung over her gaze from the arch of her brows indicated some dark past. Something I didn’t know anything about. It reminded me that I knew so little about other people— like with Bahr whom I briefly met and fought. Did he have a reason for doing what he did? Definitely.

But sometimes, I had to act even when I knew nothing about what someone had been through. Whether Victor’s desire to exact ‘revenge’ was justified or not— even if I thought it wasn’t— didn’t matter, because I had to act there and then. And even if it was for different reasons, the same thing applied now.

I put a hand out, opening it towards Lilith. She cocked her head, eyeing the gesture. "What?"

"Saintess Lilith, I do not know what you’ve been through and I do not know anything about you. However, I shall offer you a deal now. If you want to be free from the Church, then come with me. With us. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do everything within my power to ensure this comes true."

It was a similar offer I made to Ginah. It was an unsubstantiated offer. Something I had no previous results to show that I could deliver. And yet, Ginah trusted me because she had gotten to know me. But Lilith? She said she liked me, but we had only just met.

She laughed.

"Going against the Church? Haha! Good one— oh, wait you weren’t joking."

Lilith cast her gaze over all of us, stopping at each and every single one of our faces as if she were assessing us. She stopped at Gennady for a moment, narrowing her eyes, before she continued past him to face me.

"And what do you have with you to achieve that goal? A motley crew of pirates? A Dwarf inventor that was replaced by his own country for one of our insane Scientists? And you, Aria— a little girl who can cast some magic?"

"I’m not just any little girl," I said, meeting her gaze. "I am Melas, and I am the [Witch]."

She snickered. "Well then, Melas the Witch. If you truly want to be like your mother, Valeria the Fiend. Then go ahead and try. But I am no fool. I know what the Church is capable of, and I know all the secrets that they are hiding." The Saintess lifted her spear, pointing it at me. "So come then. Try and stop me from slaughtering you all."

Lilith blurred. She moved so fast I could barely keep up with her. Kai tracked her movements, firing one of his beams at her. She easily deflected it as a barrage of bullets came at her from the other pirates. It bounced off, her protective aura, of course. There was no way that would work.

She landed between three pirates, quickly disposing of the first two with a wide swing that they couldn’t dodge. The third pirate barely blocked the attack, but she struck him with the butt of his spear, knocking him back. She was about to finish him off when Braz tackled her from the side, throwing her off balance.

The Saintess stumbled back, and in that brief moment where she was immobile, I sent the spells I had pre-cast flying at her. Three Frost Javelins arced through the air, looping around each other before they crashed into her.

It was not enough to discombobulate her, but it was clear it damaged her aura. Lilith steadied herself before thrusting her spear at Braz. He was fast— I had known he was fast. But I didn’t expect him to keep up with Lilith. And he did, just for a moment.

Braz sidestepped the attack, bringing his cutlass down at her knees. It bounced off her aura harmlessly as she took a step forward and jerked her knee forward at him. Braz dodged it, but couldn’t react to the follow up attack as Lilith swung her spear at him.

Luckily for him, a glowing whip of energy intercepted the attack, wrapping around Lilith’s spear. Ginah yanked her whip back, trying to pull her weapon away from her. Lilith tsked and pulled back harder, causing the pirate Captain to stumble. But before she could do anything else, Kai shot her once again before she was swarmed by Jack and a dozen other pirates.

But even outnumbered, the Saintess cut through the pirates with ease. They were supposedly the best fighters in Luke, and yet they were being cut down like flies. Jack staggered back away from the fighting, a bloodied wound on his chest as Ginah’s whip grabbed hold of Lilith’s legs. She nearly tripped, but caught herself before my Frost Javelins smashed into her back forcing her to fall face first onto the ground.

The problem with having negated Lilith’s miracles meant that I was also severely impeded. My array of spells to cast was severely reduced, but with all the water vapor in the air, it also meant I could cast Frost Javelins much easier than on land. And considering that was one of the stronger spells I knew, it actually proved to be a boon to me. Still, we were losing. So I turned to my Dwarven companion and spoke hurriedly to him.

"What’s taking so long? Why isn’t your Annihilator cannon working?!"

That was supposed to be our secret weapon in this battle; the moment Lilith tried to attack us instead of cooperating, he was supposed to blast her off the ship. But evidently, it did not happen.

Instead, Gennady was looking over the weapon confused. He took out the Greater mana crystal and placed it back inside, before smacking it a few times. However, when he pointed it at the downed Saintess, nothing came out of it.

"I… don’t know!"

"You said it would work now that you’ve got a Greater mana crystal!" I shouted, exasperated.

"It’s supposed to work! I don’t know why it’s—"

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. While we were arguing, Lilith had gotten up and was knocked back down by Kai— and some of the mana crystals adorned on her clothes cracked. The aura around her fizzled for a moment, its radiant glow suddenly becoming less vibrant and more transparent.

She must have noticed this, because when she got back up, she was livid. I felt a strong build up of mana inside of her, and my eyes widened.

"Look out—"

My body moved by instinct; the dangerous feeling forcing me to act before I could think. I brought my hand forward as Ginah and the other pirates heard my warning and backed away from Lilith. Perhaps if I didn’t act, they’d have been killed in an instant. But what I did was not enough.

Dispel Magic. Somehow, the spell worked on her. For just a moment, I felt a band of resistance coming from her as I held the miracle back from being unleashed onto the ship. But Lilith was strong. She broke through my spell, releasing a burst of flames all around her.

It was like when she sunk The Lightbringers Vessel, but weaker. She must have held back knowing she’d sink the ship. She wanted to simply repulse the pirates from swarming her— and it worked.

Ginah managed to get away from the blast just in time, but Kai wasn’t so lucky. Half of his body suffered severe burns from the attack, forcing him to drop his gun as he writhed in pain. Other pirates were hit by the attack, and many of them were dead or dying on the ground between me and Lilith.

The Saintess looked at me with eyes full of anger and fury. More glowing lines spread throughout her body, but this time they didn’t concentrate into a single attack. She took a step forward, and I blinked.

She had been fast before. Quick on her feet— able to cover distances very quickly. But I could at least see some movement. Now, I didn’t even notice when she reached me. It was instantaneous.

Lilith swung the butt of her spear at me and Gennady. The Dwarf managed to brace for it and was knocked to the ground. I wasn’t prepared for it and all and went flying a dozen feet through the air, before landing on the bulwark of the ship with a thud.

I picked myself up in a daze, trying to regain my bearings. But Saintess Lilith was once again above me in an instant. She stared down at me with a tiny red glow in her malachite green eyes. Her entire body pulsed with energy, radiating so much excess mana off it. She didn’t seem to notice as she brought a foot down on my hand, stopping me from reaching for my staff. I grimaced in pain.

"I didn’t want to hurt you, but you leave me no choice. Now, all your friends will die. Now you have no choice but to suffer as I kill them all—"

Dispel Magic. For a very brief moment, the aura around Lilith flickered. I interrupted the flow of mana in her protective mana crystals just long enough for me to bring my dagger down onto her leg. She screamed in pain as she released me.

The Saintess stomped on her foot like had stepped on some hot coal, shouting curses as she did. I didn’t have time to think. I saw Gennady’s Annihilation cannon lying on the ground just ahead of me. That was the only thing we could use to defeat her.

I leapt for it, and Lilith’s head snapped towards me. She swore as she reached for me. "You’re not going—"

She was faster than me, of course. She’d have reached me if not for Braz who rushed the Saintess. He didn’t even bring a weapon with him. Instead, he tackled her and wrestled her with his bare hands, holding her back for just the moment I needed.

By the time I even came into contact with the weapon, Lilith had already kicked him away after pulling her spear off of him. She turned to face me just in time to see me aiming it at her.

"Wha—"

The Greater mana crystal shattered.

I used all of my strength to shove all the mana inside of the weapon at once. I didn’t know if it was going to work, but I had to try. Gennady had said that he rigged all his weapons so you could destabilize a mana crystal and it wouldn’t blow up in your face… most of the time. And the weapon wasn’t working anyways. So I pushed all of the mana out of the crystal, and somehow, it worked.

A blinding beam of dark energy came out, larger than the barrel of the gun that held it.

The black streak of light seemed to absorb the light from its surroundings, yet it had an ethereal white glow surrounding it at all times. It emitted no sound, a deadly silent laser that shot out with almost no warning. It engulfed the Saintess before she could even react, blasting her against the bulwark, annihilating the wood of the ship as though it were nothing, before cutting across the ocean water without leaving a single splash in the wave.

A blood curdling scream came from Lilith as the Annihilation spell-turned-weapon blasted her further and further away from the ship, until I couldn’t hear her screams anymore. And still, the laser continued pouring out of the cannon. For a minute. Then two.

And finally, after five minutes passed of me holding the weapon up and pointing it away from the ship, the beam slowly dissipated. The black laser disappeared.

I ran up to the edge of the ship, casting my gaze at the empty waters. And the clear ocean showing no signs of life. Saintess Lilith was gone. She was swept away by the blast, brought into oblivion.

Gennady limped up from behind me, rubbing at his arm. It was broken. The Saintess didn’t hold back from hurting anyone except for me. And even then I was pretty sure I had broken a few ribs and sprained my wrist from the fight.

But still, we had won.

I breathed in relief knowing that we had come out victorious.

The Dwarf peeked his head over the edge of the ship, investigating the watery terrain with me. "Well, you blasted her to Hell, didn’t ya?"

I didn’t say anything. I simply nodded.

"Right," he said, glancing at the broken mana crystal in his weapon. He shook his head, before turning back to the empty ocean. "Annihilation is supposed to be a Tier 6 spell. But that had to be Tier 7 at least. You could’ve gotten yourself killed, y’know?"

Again, I said nothing. Instead, I just sighed and dropped the Annihilation cannon, letting the mana crystal pieces fall onto the ground devoid of color and power. I leaned my head on the intact part of the wooden bulwark, just resting.

Gennady didn’t seem to notice my exhaustion. He continued with his questions. "So, think she’s dead?"

"No," I replied instantly.

"But she was blasted by a Tier 7 spell—"

"No body, no proof." I pushed myself up and turned around. "That’s the rule." Perhaps I was being paranoid, but that was simply how it worked. Not like Gennady understood it or anything.

"...what?"

Chapter 37: Allies and Enemies

"Thank you," I whispered under my breath as I covered Braz’s eyes once and for all.

Apparently, he had lived a terrible life before Ginah had saved him. But he regretted the things he had done in the past. And for a moment, I had judged him for it— I had tried to condemn him for his sins.

But he had only been kind to me. He had always been so laid back. But when I saw him drinking himself to sleep every night, I knew he always had regrets. He condemned himself for what he had done, so why did I have to do that when I knew nothing of what he truly did?

What I did know about Braz was the man I had interacted with. The one who saved my life. So I thanked him as he was laid to rest.

I cast my gaze around the deck of the ship. There were so many bodies covered in cloth. So many people who fought for me, a kid that kept secrets from them. A kid that lied to them. But still, a kid that fought alongside them.

And I could only offer them my gratitude for what they did for me, and nothing else. They died for me— for the promise of a better life. All I could do now was keep my promise to those that were still alive. They had trusted me enough to see this through, I had to see my end through now.

I strode along the deck as I watched everyone pay their final respects to their friends. Their family. There was business I had to attend to with Ginah and Kai— both of whom survived the battle.

And I also had to thank Jack and Lisa too. Lisa stayed out of the fight, but the amount of help she had given me to lay this trap was worth all the gratitude I had. And Jack— perhaps I misjudged him. I still wasn’t sure why he hated Dwarves, but he wanted to resolve some unfinished business in Taw, and perhaps I could help him with that once we were there.

But for now, I said nothing to anyone. I just stood there in silence as the sombre mood washed over the ship, and everyone realized it was finally over. All that was left now was to move forward.

Lilith might or might not be dead— I highly doubted she was dead. But rather than being paranoid— rather than doubting everyone I knew— I was going to learn to trust. I would watch my back, of course; I was not going to believe everything a random stranger told me, however that did not mean I shouldn’t trust no one.

Now, I had people I trusted. I had… friends? Perhaps it was still too early to call Ginah, Lisa, and the others that— our relationship still predicated on the deal we had made. A Witch’s deal. My deal. But… my thoughts trailed off along with my gaze.

I glanced at Gennady; the Dwarf was standing to the side, also paying his respects to the fallen. He hadn’t once expressed any sort of apprehension towards helping me, even when it was revealed a Saintess was coming after my life.

If there was anyone I could consider a friend, he was one. Lisa and the others were allies for now, but over time things might change. And I thought I would rather like that. Being alone was an experience— an important one for me— but I could not act alone in this world. So I had allies now, and things were going to be different from before.

It would not be like with the Beastkin, nor would it be like with the Dark Crusaders. That was what I swore to myself.

I will do things right this time.

When we returned to land, we did not go to the hideout we had been using for the last month. Instead, it was a small encampment closer to the city of Luke, but just as well hidden. This was where most of the noncombatants had fled to a week ago when I was passed out, and the rest followed shortly after.

The reaction to our return was a mixed one; on one hand, they were glad that the plan worked out just fine, but on the other, they could not celebrate for all the dead that had been incurred. It wasn’t a complete slaughter— yet it was still a lot of dead considering the number that had come with us. So it was more of a subdued relief.

We buried the dead later that day. I thought they would have cremated the bodies since that was the common funeral method in this world. It was seen as a way of returning the spirits of the dead to the Goddess of Light by lighting them on fire. But Ginah didn’t believe in that.

If it was as simple as performing such a ritual to cleanse a soul of their sins, then she believed her father would easily be forgiven. And from what I was told, her father was a horrid man who could never be redeemed. So they performed a simple burial for the dead. The Goddess would judge them Herself by the merit of their actions.

I still wasn’t fully bought on the idea of the Goddess. I respected their beliefs, of course. But most of it came from the Church. And they certainly weren’t a reliable source. Whether or not She existed though— She probably did.

I was never really religious in my previous life. I also didn’t fully consider myself an atheist. I simply didn’t think about it too much. However after having met a god— a fake god?— a jerk god, I decided I wanted to think about it less.

So when everyone said their final prayers, I simply bowed my head and remained silent. After the funerals ended, Ginah finally approached me.

"Melas," she greeted me, her face expressionless.

"Ginah, I…" I hesitated, looking the pirate Captain over. In a sense, I was responsible for the death of all her men who died today; I knew she didn’t blame me, but I still felt uncertain whether I should address it with an apology or defend myself. In the end, I settled with expressing my gratitude.. "Thank you."

She shook her head. "They wanted to help you. Braz more than the others."

I nodded. "They were good men."

"Indeed they were."

The two of us stood there, under the night sky, in silence for a minute. Finally, as Ginah raised her head, she broke it and spoke out. "When do you have to be at Jahar’taw by?"

I turned to face her. She was staring up at the twinkling stars on the dome overhead. Her gaze was wishful, longing, and hopeful. She still seemed tired, as she was before. But now something was renewed inside of her. Like she was looking forward to what was to come, rather than dreading it.

"I’m in no particular rush," I said. "If you still have things to settle here in Luke, I’d be willing to wait."

"No." Ginah looked back down and looked over at me. She sighed, rubbing at her left shoulder. "I’ve spoken with Kai. He reassured me that he’d be able to handle things back here. That he’s prepared for it— he even told me his plan on what to do for the next few days.

"Luke is my city— it is pretty much all I have ever known— but I have a lot of bad memories here. My father did terrible things to very many people. I’ve tried to make it up to as many of them as I could, but most of them shunned me. It makes me feel like I’ve failed. And the lives lost today only adds more guilt to my conscience."

I cocked an eyebrow and she continued.

"So what I’m saying is… I’d rather we leave as soon as possible." She shifted uncomfortably on her feet as I slowly processed what she had told me. Slowly, I nodded.

"Of course." I placed a hand on her elbow and offered her a small smile. "I’ll just get my things ready. It’s not like I own a lot of things anyway."

Ginah paused. She stared at me for a moment. "You know, you don’t act like a girl your age."

"I am aware." I drew my lips to a thin line. "And please don’t say that ever again. It sounds… creepy"

"Right " She adjusted her coat and turned to go. "I’ll have to speak with the rest of my crew now. But don’t forget to say goodbye to Kai. He’d hate it if you left without so much of a farewell."

I smiled reassuringly. "Don’t worry, I won’t."

It was another lesson I had learned— to say goodbye. I would make sure it stuck with me no matter what.

It was not the most heartfelt farewell; we knew we would eventually see each other again. And yet, I was used to fleeting meetings. Short encounters that had never amounted to anything. So just knowing that I would meet Kai again in the future made me slightly emotional.

"Try not to get into too much trouble," he said. "I know you can take care of yourself, but don’t be too reckless."

I snorted. "What? Are you going to start treating me like a child now?"

"Maybe." He chuckled and placed a hand on my head. I scowled, but he ignored it. "You’re capable, Melas. I’ve seen it myself. But you’re still young. Ginah may not seem like the most reliable adult, but you can trust her. I know I have for the last decade."

"I will," I said. I turned around to board the ship, but stopped right at the gangplank to add, "And thank you. For trusting me."

"I haven’t seen anything not to trust so far." He smiled.

I nodded back at him, and with one last wave I made my way up the gangplank onto the ship. Ginah had already spoken to the rest of her crew; she had already said her goodbyes. So all that was left now was for us to actually go.

And with a final cheer, our boat finally departed into the ocean. I stood next to Ginah as she glanced back one last time to most of her crew that stayed behind. They waved at her— kids and adults, men and women, fighters and civilians, all alike— they bade their Captain a temporary farewell.

I saw a single tear drop fall from her eyes, but did not comment on it; instead, I turned to Jack and Lisa who were also on the ship coming along with us. I approached them, nodding a greeting and Jack and turning to Lisa.

"Hey, Melas," she said cheerfully.

"Not nervous at all?" I asked, cocking my head.

"Can’t say I’m not a little antsy. This is my first time leaving Luke, after all. And this is going to be a Dwarven Kingdom. It’s a completely different place."

To my surprise, Jack actually spoke out, adding his thoughts. "Not as good as it’s made out to be."

"You’ve been there before, haven’t you?" I addressed the man, who simply shrugged.

"For a while," he said. "But I’d rather not talk about it."

"Of course." I exchanged a look with Lisa, but she was just as clueless as I was. I patted him on the arm. "As long as you don’t cause us too much trouble."

He grunted. "Don’t worry, I won’t cause you as much trouble as you’ve caused for us."

"Hey—" I frowned, staring at his less dour expression. "Wait, was that a joke?"

Jack simply turned away, not opting to respond. I narrowed my eyes. So there’s more to him than just a cynical grouch, huh? There was still so much I had to learn about these people; I was kind of looking forward to it, actually.

Socializing like a normal person was something I had been deprived of for so long. I was an antisocial kid back in Villamcreek, and my time with others after leaving the small village had always been under tense situations. The few weeks we would have at sea offered me an opportunity to bond with others normally. Like the normal person I had been before I died.

Lisa smiled her usual smile. "Jack is actually a really nice guy once you get to know him," she said.

I rolled my eyes. "If he lets others get to know him."

"Kind of like you, huh?" She raised a brow at me.

I ignored that playful gibe and turned to face her. "So what will you be doing once you get to Taw?"

"I don’t know." She leaned on the bulwark of the ship, facing out into the ocean. "We’ll figure it out when we get there. Plus you said you have some contacts don’t you? That you can get an audience with some rich and influential people?"

"Gennady can do that," I corrected her. "The only thing I can do for myself is get an audience with the King."

At this point, I was already most of the way to Jahar’taw; there was no longer any reason for me to doubt Felix’s words that King Adilet would see me at his request. And even if that didn’t work out, Gennady made a similar claim. So there was no point in traveling to Taw under the assumption that I wouldn’t at least be seen by the King. Whether or not I would actually be granted sanctuary was a different question entirely.

"Hm, I should probably ask him about that then," she said.

"You should." I barely got the words out before Lisa called out to the Dwarf who was chatting across the deck from us.

He strode over, a bottle of alcohol in hand, already halfway through to its finish. "What do ya need?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could situate Jack and I with—"

I glanced past Gennady, at the young man following him. Sevin was one of the few people in Ginah’s Crew who voluntarily wanted to come with us. He was fascinated with technology and tinkering with it, so it made sense that going to the biggest hub of innovation in the world piqued his interest.

"Hi, uh, Melas." He had a hint of hesitation in his voice— a pretty blatant hint. He scratched his cheek as he greeted me, still uncertain how to approach me.

He was obviously feeling awkward; that I knew. So I had to break the tension, that was all. I lightly punched him in the arm. "Hey, thanks for giving me your Shock Pistol. It works great— it really helped me out."

He blinked a few times before slowly nodding. "Right, I did give you that, didn’t I?"

It was a while back, but I didn’t get the chance to use it proper until we sprung our trap on Lilith. I made sure to use the stun bolts when I was fighting Lisa, Ginah, and the others so as to not hurt them while keeping up the illusion that we were actually fighting for real.

"Yes," I said, gesturing at the gun holstered on my belt. "I don’t know how you even did it. It worked so seamlessly."

Sevin grinned and began to loosen up. "Oh, well, as I told you I took an Inferior mana crystal and…"

By the time Sevin was finished with his explanation, he was talking to me like normal once again. Lisa left after pestering Gennady for a while, which freed him up to join in on our conversation and brag about how we would be amazed when we got to Jahar’taw. Some time after that, it was night and most everyone headed to sleep.

I didn’t go to sleep. Instead I went to the bow of the ship, and just stood there, taking in the night sky. The darkness that hung overhead was tranquil— almost calming. I could see the storm clouds forming in the distance, already threatening this peaceful weather, but it had yet to come. So I simply enjoyed the current gentle night’s breeze.

A set of heavy footsteps approached me from behind, and I didn’t even turn around as I greeted the man. "Gennady, what are you doing up so late?" I asked, arms crossed and leaning on the wooden railing of the ship.

The Dwarf stopped right next to me. "I was going to, but I saw you leaving your room to go up here. I’m supposed to be your bodyguard, aren’t I? I can’t let you get swept up by the waves."

"Come on, do you really think I’m not careful enough to avoid falling into the ocean?" I faced him with a mock glare.

"No," he said. turning to meet my eyes. "But as you would say— better safe than sorry, right?"

He chortled and I joined him in his laughter. After we stopped, we stood there basking in the moonlight for a minute, until I decided to ask him the question that was weighing on my mind.

"I made a lot of promises to Ginah, Lisa, and the others," I said, looking up into the storm clouds ahead. "But do you really think I can keep them?"

Gennady considered this. He placed a hand on his chin and glanced heavenward in thought. Finally, he shrugged. "Don’t know if you can keep them," he answered truthfully. "But I’ll help you try and do just that. I may not seem like it, but I’m a pretty important Dwarf after all."

I raised an eyebrow dubiously at that, and he folded his arms indignantly.

"I am."

"I know, I know," I said, grinning at him. "I was joking. I have a sense of humor too, you know?"

He snorted. "Could’ve fooled me."

I sighed wistfully as I rested my head on my forearms, leaning slightly off the edge of the ship. "I just hope everything works out."

"Don’t worry." Gennady patted me on the back, and gave me a reassuring grin. "Just have faith, will ya?"

I nodded and said nothing more. We stayed there in silence once again, letting the sounds of the waves and the wind fill the moment.

"Sorry, by the way," I added.

"For what?" he asked.

"For almost killing you when we first met."

"Oh please, there’s no way ya would’ve killed me. Can ya imagine what the headlines would be back in Taw if they found out I was killed by a little girl? It would’ve been—"

I watched on and smiled as Gennady told me of all the ways him dying to me would’ve sullied and disgraced the Dwarven Kingdom so there was no way he would’ve allowed it— he simply let me catch him off guard or something or another excuse.

Whatever the case was, I enjoyed the moment for what it was with my friend. Because while there might not always be bright days ahead— even though it might not be smooth sailing from here on out— at least I was making progress. At least I was finally going to get to the Jahar’taw.

Maybe there I would finally be safe.

"You’ve got to see this!" the young fisherman called out to his companion as he hauled the net back to the boat.

"What is it?" the older man asked, looking over his shoulders.

"I don’t know," the young fisherman said, scratching the back of his head. "I think it’s a woman or something."

The older man sputtered. "A woman?" He turned to the young fisherman and pulled him back. "Boy, what’s wrong with you? That’s a Mermaid!"

"It’s not—"

The young fisherman’s protests were interrupted as the figure in the net jerked. A young woman stood up, tearing the seaweed and the fishes off her with her one remaining arm. Blood dripped off the stump on her left, as the broken mana crystals fell off her torn and tattered clothing.

The two men backed up as red lines formed throughout her body. Her eyes flashed with fury.

"I’ll kill her. Goddess damn me if that isn’t the last thing I do!"

Chapter 38: Interlude V - The Emperor

The Fiend has a daughter. She has the potential to become a bigger threat than the Fiend herself. Send Inquisitors to my location.

— Saintess Lilith

It was morning when the message reached the Xan Palace. It came as an encrypted message. Not that it mattered since it immediately spread quickly throughout the military wing— by the time it reached the Xavier’s ears, everyone important had already heard about it.

Well, everyone that was important excluding Xavier himself. It could be argued that he was the most important individual not just in the Xan Palace or the Holy Xan Empire, but the entire world. Not that he thought of himself that way. But it could not be disputed that he was the Emperor of the largest and most powerful nation in the world.

Regardless, the message reached him last, and when he read it, he spat out his drink.

"The Fiend has a what?"

"A daughter, your majesty," Emlen— his Steward— said.

Xavier rose from his seat, putting down the cup of tea back onto its saucer as he wiped himself down. "And you’re sure this is true?" he asked.

"Yes, your majesty." Emlen’s facial expression did not change as the Emperor straightened his uniform, trying to appear more befitting of his imperial station. "The telegraph was not only written in code that only high ranked officials would know, but attached with the special designation Saintess Lilith was assigned for her most recent mission. It has been verified by Saint Justin to be legitimate."

Placing one hand on his chin, Xavier began pacing back and forth as he considered the implication of this. Bigger threat than the Fiend? he thought, furrowing his brows. That’s dangerous.

It wasn’t an Empire-ending kind of a danger. If the Fiend and her many accomplices such as the Imp, the Nuckelavee, and the rest of the Shadow’s Evangelium failed to topple the Holy Xan Empire, a single girl shouldn’t either. No, the threat here came from what she could possibly do if she gathered powerful allies.

Currently, the Dark Crusaders were barely in the radar of the Empire. Not only were they located in the continent of Vitae— across the world— but the Holy Xan Empire was currently engaged with… a more troublesome problem.

Xavier’s eyes flickered as his gaze found the report lying on his desk. It was the most recent report on the team of Inquisitors led by Saint Noelle against the Cult. And from what was detailed in the report— they were all dead.

It was a terrible loss to the Empire. A tragedy that would have to be announced at a later date— when people weren’t as panicked over the Abominations that came from the same group that killed Noelle.

And while Xavier had met him before, it was only through his reputation that Xavier knew he was a kind man. He was not the most powerful Saint, nor the most well known one. But still a kind man. It made Xavier’s heart ache knowing such a man died when it could have been prevented. Perhaps if Theron did not fail...

Xavier paused. He turned to his Steward, standing back straight to the side. "Was Saint Theron not the one who slew the Fiend half a year ago?"

"Indeed he was, your majesty," Emlen said, bowing his head slightly. "I believe it was during his pursuit of the Cult where he found the Fiend hiding in a small village on the outskirts of the Rem Republic, although I can find further details about this encounter if you wish it."

"No, that’s fine Emlen." The Emperor shook his head. "I am sure I would recall a mention of a daughter, had such a thing been brought up."

The Steward raised an eyebrow. "Do you suspect that Saint Theron omitted this information, your majesty?"

"Perhaps," Xavier said, rubbing his chin. Finding his coat and donning it, the Emperor combed his white hair back with his hand and strode around his desk. "I will bring this issue up with the Church. Inform the Grand Inquisitor and all the relevant nobles that there will be a meeting tonight. We will discuss this issue there. Otherwise, ensure that speculation remains at a minimum. There has been enough instability within the nobility as of late."

"As you wish." Taking a step back, Emlen bowed as Xavier passed him. The two Sacred Guards behind him held the grand double doors open as the Emperor left the room. "And may I inquire as to where you are headed, your majesty?"

"To speak with Saint Justin. I desire his counsel."

Xavier walked through the halls of the palace, drawing eyes from those who saw him. It was not unusual for the Emperor himself to make an appearance in his own palace, but this was not his palace. Well, it was not his part of the palace.

Currently, Xavier was in the religious wing of the palace. The Xan Palace was not just a single structure reserved solely for him. Rather, it was split into four quadrants: the imperial wing where the Emperor presided, the religious wing where the Church presided, the noble wing where the nobility presided, and the military wing which was almost influenced by all three groups.

And since he was in neither the imperial wing or the military wing, he was essentially in unknown territory. Or rather, that would have been the case had he not known where he was going.

Xavier pushed open the golden door and entered the private temple. It was a small room— barely even the same size as the Emperor’s office itself. And it did not help that the place was lined with rows of candles going all around the sides, creating a thin haze that partially obscured the figure standing by the altar.

The figure did not turn to greet Xavier even as he made his approach. Instead, the figure remained in solemn silence with his head bowed and his hands on the table. Xavier stopped right behind the figure as they continued their quiet prayer, muttering words of reverence to the Goddess of Light.

Finally, after the figure finished, they pushed themselves off the altar, straightening their back and tidying their robes. They were a man— an older man— senior to Xavier by two decades. But despite his age, he had a head full of tidy brown hair and a face belonging to someone ten years younger. Certainly, standing side by side, one wouldn’t be able to tell that there was such a stark age gap between Xavier and the man.

However, the stern look he carried did not betray his age, but told anyone who met him of his experience and rank. "Your majesty," the man said, turning to face the Emperor. "Your presence honors me."

"You know you don’t have to address me by my title, Justin. We’re friends here." Xavier offered a hand and a smile to him.

The Saint accepted the kindly greeting, but continued with his formal speech. "Did you need something of me, your majesty?"

"I would like to hear your thoughts on a matter."

"My thoughts on a matter?" He furrowed his brows. "Would your advisers not provide a better perspective?"

"You know I trust your advice, Justin," Xavier said, closing his eyes. A scene played in his head. And for just a brief moment, he could feel his heart racing and hands shaking once again. The feeling went away as soon as it came, but the gratitude he felt never left. "You saved my life. That amounts to more than I could ever give you."

Justin simply bowed his head. "I appreciate the sentiment, your majesty. But I was simply doing my job."

"Of course." The Emperor opened his eyes, and turned to the older man. "And it is because you are so diligent in your duties that I have come to you. I believe you must have heard the news?"

Saint Justin visibly hesitated, his lips drawing into a thin line beneath his beard. "If you are referring to the Fiend’s apparent… daughter, then I have been well informed, your majesty."

"Good, I—" Xavier cut himself off. He saw Justin avert his gaze for a single moment, before regaining his composure. "Justin," he said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I am fine. Thank you for your concerns, your majesty."

The Emperor narrowed his eyes, boring his gaze into the older man. He knew he shouldn’t have pressed the issue, but he wanted to know. "Do you regret that she died—"

Justin spoke quickly, almost interrupting him. "The Fiend was exterminated. She deserved her fate. I have no regrets about the circumstances involving her demise."

The Saint paused, realizing his tone and caught himself. He bit his lower lip as he continued slowly.

"If I have any regrets, your majesty, it is that I wasn’t there to personally slay Valeria myself."

His eyes flashed— and it was not just in a figurative sense. Something in the hazel eyes of Saint Justin glowed a brilliant blue. Like a fire— but not a real one. Xavier nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"The Fiend was truly a malicious individual," the Emperor said. He looked over at the alter, then at the candles lined throughout the room. He shook his head. "However, could the same thing be said of her daughter?"

"What do you mean, your majesty?" Justin asked after having calmed himself.

Xavier did not respond immediately. Instead, he lifted his hand off Justin’s shoulder and placed it gently on the altar. His fingers slowly traced the gold carving of a flame on its center, as he eyes found itself glancing heavensward— at the mural on the ceiling.

The mural painted atop in this private temple was a beautiful one. Made in collaboration with the best artists of the Holy Xan Empire. It depicted not a single scene, but a timeline. From the start of Damnation just above the doorway, to the end of Damnation with the Goddess of Light banishing the Devil directly overhead where the two men were standing.

The Goddess of Light was simply a figure of light. She had no features but the vague outline of a body that glowed. One that illuminated the darkness that came from Damnation, and purified the souls of all living things suffering within it. She had Her arms stretched to the side as the Devil— an incarnation of that darkness and suffering— cowered in fear before Her rays.

It was Her kindness that saved the world from Damnation. That was why all peoples worshipped Her, even if they might have had other disagreements about Her. No one believed that She did not end their suffering and the Devil’s rule. That was the truth of the world.

Kindness, Xavier thought. It was always taught in schools and by the Church. Such was an important quality for the existence of society. And yet, why were the heretics never treated the same?

He shook his head. "Saint Theron was the one responsible for slaying the Fiend, was he not? Did he not report the existence of the Fiend’s daughter to the Church?"

"He did not, your majesty," Justin said. "I have spoken to him after I heard of Saintess Lilith’s message, but he claims to have been unaware of this girl."

"And what if he is lying?" Xavier asked, raising an eyebrow.

Justin frowned. "I don’t believe he would, your majesty. Saint Theron is a devout member of the Church and the best Saint I know. Keeping such an important piece of information for himself— or rather, not seizing the girl and bringing her to Xanderia? That does not seem like him."

"Perhaps." The Emperor lowered his head and placed one hand on his chin. "However, do you believe Saint Theron has been acting like himself ever since he returned from his mission?

"I have received various reports— mostly complaints— coming from the nobility. They are unhappy about the boy he had brought back with him from the Rem Republic. They believe it is only because of Saint Theron’s influence that the boy was admitted to the Academy, and they wish for me to take actions against the Church for it."

"I have looked into the boy— Adrian— and he is very much qualified to be in the Academy, your majesty."

"That does not matter." He sighed and turned to Justin. "The issue comes from Saint Theron— has he ever done something like this before?"

"I don’t believe he has," the older man said. "However, coming from an orphanage himself and losing out on opportunities as a child, I don’t see how this is out of character for him. He has helped plenty of children before find homes in Xanderia— especially those living near the Gates of Hell who have lost their towns and villages."

"But none were ever brought to the Academy." Xavier crossed his arms. "That is different. By exerting his influence to do so, he jeopardizes his rank by bringing the nobilities ire towards the Church. It is too much risk for a random boy, no?"

Justin cocked a brow. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing of the sort that you’re thinking about," Xavier said. "Just that it is an unusual thing to do. Tell me, Justin, what has Saint Theron been doing in over the half year that passed since he returned?"

"He has taken a step back from his duties as a Saint," Justin replied slowly. Creases formed in his brows as he considered this. "He has spent more time studying and in temples than before, citing a desire to repent for his failure to protect the Inquisitors under him."

"And has he ever done that before?"

"He has mourned for everyone who he has failed to protect— but no, never to this extent." He pursed his lips and turned back to Xavier. "What are you thinking, your majesty?"

"I’m not sure either," the Emperor said. "But perhaps Saint Theron saw something. Perhaps he saw something that made him seek repentance. And maybe that’s why he spared the Fiend’s daughter and chose not to tell us about her."

"With all due respect, your majesty, that is impossible. You know as well as I do that magic is heresy. The Shadow’s Evangelium nearly succeeded in assassinating you. They destroyed cities and towns. Bringing justice to a heretic— especially one as vile as the Fiend— is not something he would ever need to repent."

"Maybe not."

Perhaps he came a little too forward to Justin. Someone who had fought against the Shadow’s Evangelium for the entirety of its existence wouldn’t have the most positive opinion of spellcasters. However...

"But something did happen. Something that made Saint Theron choose to show… kindness to the girl. So shouldn’t we take that into consideration and do the same?"

Saint Justin considered this. He slowly nodded his head in agreement. "It would certainly be unfair to hold this girl accountable for her mother’s crimes. And yet, Saintess Lilith calls for aid. She believes that she needs help to capture this girl. To a certain extent, she has to be a danger, your majesty."

"What do you suggest, Justin?" Xavier asked. "The Grand Inquisitor and the nobility would certainly press me to fulfill her request. What can I do to ensure real justice is carried out? What happens if this girl is not even related to the Fiend, and is falsely killed?"

"Saintess Lilith requested for Inquisitors. However, the Church is stretched too thin as of late due to the Abominations. And especially considering what happened to the last team of Inquisitors that accompanied her— I don’t believe that can be done, even if the Grand Inquisitor would insist it’s possible."

Certainly, the Grand Inquisitor would try to have his Inquisitors sent out in this mission. Doing so would only increase his influence, after all. And in light of recent events which diminished the Empire’s entire standing in addition to the nobility incessantly clawing away at his power? The rank of Emperor held less power now than it ever did ever since the Empire’s very formation.

"But if I refuse to hear answer the Saintess’ call for assistance and demand her return, I would be accused of being incompetent— they would paint me to be a bigger fool than they already have."

Justin spoke reassuringly. "So you give both the Saintess and the nobility what they wanted," he said. "Don’t send Inquisitors. Send your Holy Knights.

"Ever since the Cult brought the Abominations to Vitae, somehow— for whatever reason— the hordes of Abominations coming from Hell have decreased, have they not? That was why we felt it was not a risk to take Saintess Lilith out from guarding the Gates of Hell. It wouldn’t be a risk to call back some Holy Knights as well, no?"

Xavier considered this with a nod. Then snapping his fingers, he exclaimed. "And if I handpick the Holy Knights who have previously worked with Saintess Lilith, they would be able to manage her better. Prevent her from acting out of line— prevent her from escaping and from unnecessarily killing the girl."

Saint Justin appeared to be slightly apprehensive. "Your majesty, if I may ask, why are you so adamant on ensuring this girl doesn’t die?"

The Emperor paused. Something flashed in his mind. Anger. Pure rage.

Words that forever haunted him from that day onwards. Why do you oppress us? Why can you live in peace while we must die in suffering? Xavier felt a shiver run up his spine as he tried to compose himself. Clearing his throat, he skirted around answering the question.

"Because it is the right thing to do, Justin," he said. "The court decides what justice is to be delivered on a person. Whether or not they deserve death— they should always be tried."

"I see." Justin nodded his head. "I apologize for my questions. I may be a Saint, but I am not perfect. I simply wanted to understand your perspective, your majesty."

Xavier waved a hand dismissively. "There’s no need to apologize. And do call me by my name for once."

"I don’t believe that would be possible, your majesty."

He snorted. "Fine." He shook his head, then his eyes glinted. "But if you can at least do me another favor— there’s another reason why I came to see you."

Justin looked at him inquisitively. "And that is?"

Emperor Xavier smiled slyly. "I require some assistance for a meeting later on…"

Truth be told, while Xavier was probably the most important single person in the world, he sometimes felt like he was also the most powerless. As Emperor, he was supposed to hold the supreme power over the entire continent of Soli. And yet, he often found his hands tied whenever the Church or the nobility objected to a course of action he proposed.

It was exemplified in the current scene. The Grand Inquisitor stood in defiance against him, trying to force him to let the Church deal with the Fiend’s daughter and Saintess Lilith— it was their responsibility after all!

"Emperor Xavier, while I understand your logic, I would like to dispute your claim that the Church is overspending its resources. I can assure you that our Inquisitors are perfectly capable of handling this Abomination problem while dealing with these heretics in another continent. If you would just leave this minor problem to me and take care of more pressing matters—"

And past that greedy man seeking to only increase his power were the masses of greedy men and women trying to only increase their wealth and influence. Most of them could not care less about this issue. In fact, they probably would not have even gathered here if they weren’t asked to by the man leading them

The main heir to the Corinna Dukedom brought a hand down to the table, protesting Xavier’s decision while riling up his supporters. Well, they were only supporters in the sense that they saw this as an easy opportunity to cozy up with the man who wanted to protect his family’s reputation for when he became the Duke.

"Your majesty, this girl can not be allowed to live. She is the daughter of the Fiend! Such a vile, evil creature must be slain at once! No need for trial. No need for leniency. The safety of the entire Empire depends on it!"

Such were the objections Xavier often heard. And while such objections would typically force him to comply with their demands, Xavier instead found himself standing his ground. Because for today, he had allies.

To his left stood the Archbishop and Saint Justin. The Archbishop came at Justin’s request— which in turn came from Xavier’s request. While the Church was probably the most powerful institution within the Holy Xan Empire— it was not a united institution. The powers at the top of the Church were split between the Archbishop and the Grand Inquisitor.

And while Justin was a Saint, he did come from a noble family. He might not be the heir to his house, but he was still certainly influential within it. And it wasn’t just a regular noble family— it was the Livius Dukedom. So with these two equalizing powers to the opposition, Xavier managed to pass his decree:

The Fiend’s daughter is to be brought back to Xanderia alive, where she will then face trial for any crimes or acts of heresy she may have committed. Saintess Lilith will be accompanied by a retinue of Holy Knights to accomplish this mission.

It was not much, but Xavier felt content. Perhaps he could have tried to do more to ensure the girl wasn’t unfairly killed— but too much would have raised some questions. Questions he would not be able to answer.

But he did his good deed. He was not a monster— many people within the Holy Xan Empire and the Church recognize that indiscriminately killing heretics was not right. It took a while, but that was why he overturned his mother’s law that dictated all heretics— noble or commoner— were to be executed for violating Holy Law.

Small acts. But eventually, Xavier hoped it would accumulate. That maybe actual change could be brought forth— that heresy wasn’t treated as the most evil thing in the world to be killed for, but to be renounced and forgiven.

He just hoped that this girl— whoever she was— would somehow know that he was trying to help her. And him sparing her life would not come back to bite him in the future.

Author’s Note:

Thank you all for reading!

I hope you enjoy the story thus far. I am aware that Melas started to act a bit too brusquely in Part Two of the book, and that was entirely intentional. I wanted to emphasize the consequences of what she had experienced in Book One.

Oftentimes, characters who experience trauma brush it off rather quickly. I did not want that to happen with Melas. Sure, it would have been far easier to write this story if she were perfect— but that’s just now who she is. She’s imperfect. She’s a normal girl.

If she were special, she would have immediately become a hero upon being reincarnated into another world. But as the fake god says: she was nothing special.

Maybe, if you continue to follow her journey, she can eventually become and grow into something truly special. We shall see!

Join my patreon to support me at https://www.patreon.com/MelasD to read rough first drafts of the latest Melas Book Three chapters as it is being written.

To hear news about my books and Melas stuff, subscribe to my newsletter here: https://melasdnewsletter.ck.page/

Read More

From the same series:

Abomination: Melas Book 1

Demon’s Den: Melas Book 3

From the Deltaverse:

Salvos

The Netherworld: it is a hellish landscape inhabited only by demons, creatures born from the dark abyss. It is also the only world Salvos knows.

Joining the ranks of newborn demons, Salvos is thrown into the violent, anarchy-ruled landscape of that world. To survive, she will have to learn, she will have to adapt, and she will have to evolve. She will gain experience to reach new Levels of power.

Her curiosity aids her but her pride could be her fall. It is the nature of the Netherworld to avoid or conquer any threats faced. After all, the law of evolution is survival of the fittest, and Salvos is a survivor. And perhaps, eventually, she will leave this world behind for a better place. But is that what she even wants?

Do note that it's a slow-paced but action-packed litrpg!

This novel is an action-packed monster evolution litrpg fantasy following the adventures of a Demon girl! It is set inside a game-like world with Classes and Levels, but it is not inside the world of a video game. For the characters in the novel, the world is as real as the real world is to me and you. It is also technically an isekai, sort of a portal fantasy but not really, however I feel like it fits the genre well enough!

Curious Beginnings: Salvos Volume 1

A Demon’s Pride: Salvos Volume 2

The Plaguelands: Salvos Volume 3