With the golem defeated and Keke adamant about carving anything of value from it—if you could even call it carving—Cannoli, Ravyn, Ceres, and I made a circle of the town with Ceres at the lead. The damage was bad, really bad. Houses lay in shambles and catgirls were splayed around the streets.

Ceres split off from our party, mentioning she wished to check in with Aster and her side of town, leaving the three of us alone.

Cannoli knelt beside one girl who sat beneath the rubble of a destroyed home, knees clenched to her chest. Boils welted her skin and she shivered and hacked like her body was rejecting a lung. A thin layer of the pollution lingered on her pale skin and clung to her hair.

“What the hell was that shit the golem spewed?” I asked.

“It was filled with poisons, I think,” Cannoli replied gently. “This poor girl is suffering from numerous Enchantments and effects.”

“I-I can’t see,” the girl whimpered. “Who’s there?”

Cannoli looked up at Ravyn. “May I have one of the [Dispel] scrolls, please?”

Ravyn narrowed her eyes and looked from Cannoli to me. “Those were expensive.”

“I’ll buy another one, then. This could kill her,” Cannoli urged. “Please.”

Ravyn sighed. “Kuso.” She pulled the scroll from her [Cat Pack] and handed it to Cannoli.

Cannoli unrolled the parchment and lay a tender hand on the girl’s shoulder. She read the script aloud, and the scroll glowed with a soft light. Gradually, the blisters on her skin dissipated, and the hue shifted from sickly yellow to a healthy pink. The girl shook her head and looked at Cannoli with tears in her eyes.

“Thank you so much,” she whispered.

“Of course. Please stay safe,” Cannoli replied and rejoined Ravyn and me.

The worst of the damage seemed to stop about a third of the way into town. Many houses and shops still stood untouched and the pollution and mud were beginning to evaporate as the golem’s body disappeared. It was a strange feeling, seeing the exact line where the destruction stopped and normal life resumed.

“This will take a lot of work to rebuild,” I thought aloud.

“Yeah, but they will. We always do,” Ravyn replied.

I wondered what that meant but was too afraid to push it.

“I wonder if there’s a tavern here? Keke should be able to find us if we go there, right?” Cannoli asked.

“Sure. I could use a drink.” Ravyn looked over her shoulder and grumbled, “Hopefully, we’ve ditched the crazy knight.”

“She seemed nice enough.” I shrugged.

Ravyn clasped her hands and performed an exasperated imitation of Ceres. “My Lord, allow me to join you!” She cackled. “Horse shit.”

Cannoli flinched but stayed silent. We managed to find the tavern, which was filled with shell-shocked catgirls and three waitresses rushing between the tables. We managed to find an unoccupied booth and slid in just as one of the hosts arrived to greet us.

“What can I get you?” A thin sheen of sweat glistened on her forehead, and she barely gave us a second glance.

“Something a little on the light side, please,” I said to the waitress.

“Same,” said Cannoli.

“What the lightweights said,” Ravyn said.

“Oh, if a girl comes looking for us, can you please show her over?” I asked.

“Yes, of course.” The waitress gave a tilted curtsey and hurriedly left.

“You’re insane. You know that?” Ravyn said with a raised brow.

“I know,” I said, shaking my head. “But hey, it worked out, right? I couldn’t let them fight alone. Not when I knew I could help.”

“You’re getting better at this, Matt!” Cannoli said and wrapped herself around my arm. “It’s so brave, so endearing. I love your heart.”

What do I even say to that?

My mouth hung open. Sounds came out from the back of my throat, but they were grunts and clicks, not exactly words.

Cannoli blushed, looking down and back up into my eyes rapidly. She squeezed tighter and smiled wider.

“T-thanks,” I finally managed.

“Eck,” Ravyn said with a finger pointed down her throat, “chill it with the sappy shit. What’s actually important here is that we managed to down us a golem. Not an easy feat, and when Keke returns, we should have a few nice surprises left over.”

“Like what?” I said with genuine curiosity.

“Like implements for a summon,” she said as she rested her chin upon her clasped hands. “Though he’ll be a scrawny little thing for a while, and—”

“I request the presence of one named Matt!” a voice suddenly boomed from behind me. Ravyn’s stare widened, and I turned around to see who had just called my name, though I had an inkling.

There, still dressed like a combat maid, stood Ceres, her hands on the batwing doors, her gaze scanning over the crowd like a well-oiled machine. “If you have seen him, I humbly request you inform me of his present location.”

“You had to skip Keke’s description to the waitress, didn’t you?” Ravyn hissed.

Well. Shit.

“Ah, Ceres, yes. Your group is over there!” The waitress waved Ceres to our table.

I raised my hand against my better judgment. Ravyn was swift to reach across the table and slam my hand down, but it wasn’t like it would help. I turned toward Ravyn and kept my face averted even while the sound of heels on the floorboards fast approached.

Ceres was much the devoted knight, fighting for a cause no one else would. She used words I hadn’t heard for years.

Just don’t call me—

“My Lord,” Ceres began.

Oh my God.

As endearing as it sounded on paper and in anime, it was rather quite uncomfortable for me. Cannoli found it charming in a way, but Ravyn seemed just as disturbed as I was. “It took me considerably longer to locate you than I originally intended. For that, please accept my most profound apologies.”

I didn’t need to look back at her to know that she had just bowed. It felt like the very air itself around her seemed to move with every twitch.

“Y-you don’t owe me an apology,” I said in a hushed voice.

“I must disagree. It is a maid’s duty, a knight’s duty to be at the side of her Lord at all times.”

I tried to make gestures toward Ravyn in the form of strained facial expressions. Instead, she had her attention on a peanut now, clicking her tongue and flicking the shells into unknown corners of the room.

Our waitress appeared with a tray and three large mugs of frothy alcohol filled to the very brim. “Ceres, it’s good to see you! How’s the guard treating you?” She set each mug on the table and tucked the tray under her arm.

“Splendid,” Ceres said. “Though it is with some form of regret that I have decided to leave Sorentina. I have other duties which have called to my very soul.”

“Oh, I see,” the waitress replied with a slight pause. “Well, I’ll leave you to it.”

Wait! Don’t leave! Please!

The waitress made a rather brisk journey back to the bar, and a short bout of silence passed between us.

“Um, Ravyn said you’re a [Magic Knight]. I’ve never seen one! Are they hard to become?” Cannoli said with a curious stare.

“Yes, if I may be so bold to say. There is much involved in the art of combining both war and magic.” I chanced a look behind me to see Ceres shut her eyes and put a plate-covered hand over her chest. “I spent many nights reading, studying, practicing. Were it not for the support of my mentor, I would have surely perished.”

“We’ve got a dramatic one,” mumbled Ravyn, tossing the shucked peanut to a thrilled Ball.

Ceres shook her head slowly. “I speak, not in turn of arrogance, but of understanding. It is not a pursuit I would advise without careful consideration.”

Ravyn grabbed another peanut and flicked its shell. “Uh-huh.”

“It was worth it, though, right?” Cannoli asked. “I saw what you did! You and Matt took the hits from the golem like it was nothing!”

‘Like it was nothing,’ she says.

“Yes. My persistence paid off.” Ceres relocated to the bench beside Ravyn.

Ravyn shot Ceres a glare before shuffling as far away as she could from Ceres.

“I apologize if I have done something to alarm you,” Ceres said.

Ravyn clicked her tongue.

Ceres’ navy-blue eyes stared directly into me. She had high cheekbones and a shapely face. Her golden braid remained over one strong shoulder, and she gathered her gloved hands on the table, adjusting her posture so she sat perfectly upright. As beautiful as she was, I couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling I had about this entire conversation.

“Lord Matt,” Ceres began.

No, don’t say these words.

“I never received a direct answer. Please allow me to stand by your side and protect you. I owe you at least this much.”

“‘At least,’” I accidentally mumbled aloud. I shook my head and released myself from Cannoli’s grasp, intertwining my fingers in her hand instead.

Cannoli stared down at our clasped hands with heated cheeks.

I continued, “We’ve got a pretty merry band already. Besides, we won’t be staying here for very long. We travel a lot, and there’s a friend of ours who will be expecting us in the coming days. So we don’t really—”

“I will go with you,” Ceres said immediately. “My apologies for cutting you off. That was exceptionally rude of me.” She bowed her head forward.

What the hell?

“A-ah. I see. That’s… that’s very thoughtful of you. I couldn’t ask you to do that, though. We, um. Well, that’s to say.” Fuck, help me out here, Ravyn. I looked toward our [Sorceress], praying she could read the desperation in my eyes.

“Get lost,” Ravyn said. “Group’s full. Go see if the other man on this island wants your eternal devotion.”

“If I may be somewhat impolite, I do believe I was inquiring to Lord Matt directly.” Ceres’ tone was sharp, laced with a bit of venom. As polite as she was, it didn’t seem she took well to people interrupting her conversations.

“Please, you don’t have to refer to me as ‘Lord,’” I said as I shook my head.

“Matt, are you okay?” Cannoli put her spare hand over our entwined fingers, rubbing them gently with her thumb.

Yeah, I think so. How the hell do I get rid of her? Do I just tell her to get lost?

“What could you do for the group?” I found myself asking instead.

“Matt,” Ravyn said, standing up and pushing Ceres’ shoulder so she could escape the booth. “Can I talk to you for just a moment?”

Ball Gag hopped down from Ravyn’s shoulder and approached Ceres’ hands with an interested eye. He nibbled at a groove in the plate armor.

Ceres seemed indifferent—to Ball, that is.

“If I may, I would very much like to continue my conversation with Lord Matt,” Ceres said, frowning at Ravyn.

“Can it, temptress. He’s a member of my group,” Ravyn spat back.

Ceres opened her mouth but shut her eyes and rested her hands in her lap. “I understand.”

I released my grasp around Cannoli’s hand, and the two of us shared a smile before I stood up and shuffled away from the booth. Cannoli reached for her mug, and Ceres stepped aside for Ravyn to follow me.

We stopped about ten feet from the booth, and I shrugged. “Okay. Let’s hear it.”

“Privately,” Ravyn whispered, grabbing my arm and leading me out of the tavern.

Under any other circumstances, I would’ve been hot and bothered if a girl told me to meet her behind the alleyway of a bar so we could speak privately. However, given that this was Nyarlea and I was speaking to Ravyn, the thought left as soon as it came.

Ravyn peered around each corner of the building. Then after a short while, she leaned up against the wall. “We can’t take her in. We can’t take anyone from this island in. Do you get that?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Do you? Cause you sure aren’t acting like it. She’s insane. I’m gonna scream if she keeps talking about this debt she owes to you.” Ravyn pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. “This place is fucking nuts, and we can’t trust a damn soul. Not even if she’s in pretty packaging and calls you ‘My Lord.’”

“I just don’t know how to turn her down,” I said as I leaned against the wall opposite of Ravyn. “She just seems so forthright and genuine.”

“Where are you getting that from?” she asked in bewilderment. “She’s not acting any differently from the rest of the batshit crazy bitches on this island. Even if she is telling the truth, she’s just as obsessed with the whole servitude thing as the rest of them. You see that, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “So she’s a little on the stranger side. Tell me a part of Nyarlea that isn’t.”

“Matt, she’s a maid. For all we know, she’s been following us on Celestia’s orders.”

“She’s not in Venicia, and a lot of people here in Sorentina seem to know her. She helped fight off the Defiled when many fell back. She could’ve easily lost her life. I think that’s proof enough that we have nothing to worry about from her.”

“Baka! We can’t afford to fuck this up,” Ravyn said under her breath.

“I know that!” I said, pounding the back of my fist against the wall behind me. “You think I don’t know that? Of course, I do! But, really, we need all the help we can get!” I looked down with a sigh. “I wish you’d trust me more.”

Ravyn’s voice caught. “I do trust you. I just—”

“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter. I’ll turn her down. I just wanna get off this island.” I turned to leave, but after a few steps, I felt a tug at the hem of my shirt. When I turned around, Ravyn was still further behind me and had both of her hands behind her back.

For a split second, it looked like she had more to say. But the fury returned to her face, and she growled. “Well, hurry up! Cannoli’s still stuck with the psycho, and you’re blocking the way!” She shoved her way past me, marching away in a huff.

Was that her, or just my imagination?