Helden frowned. With Blau’s tracking skill, the Generis Squad could follow their target without them even noticing. However, the target this time didn’t move like a normal target. After the target left the restaurant, she left the frontier town and entered the woods. Helden had thought she was going to hunt the evil beasts that were cropping up, but instead, she stopped at the outskirts of the woods and made camp despite there being a few hours of sunlight left. As such, Helden’s group could only retreat back to town lest the target noticed she was being followed.

Blau yawned, causing Helden to frown even harder. It was the middle of the night now, and it was unlikely for the target to go anywhere, but Blau needed to be awake to maintain the tracking spell. Blau turned her head. “You should get some rest, Helden,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”

Helden shook his head. “How can I ask you to stay up for my own selfish reasons?” he asked. “It would make me feel terrible if I went to sleep without you.”

Blau’s eyes softened, and she flashed Helden a smile. “I insist,” she said. “As a scholar, I’ve weathered more than one sleepless night during my time at the academy. The first spells we’re taught involve memory retention and removing the effects of sleep deprivation.” She leaned towards Helden and stroked his arm, her fingers dragging down from his shoulder to his elbow. “Go to sleep. What if the target’s companion is strong? You shouldn’t underestimate anyone, and you should always try to maintain your peak condition.”

Helden’s eyes gleamed for a brief moment. He smiled at Blau and nodded. “Since you insist, I’ll get some rest,” he said. “Wake me up when they start to move.”

“Of course,” Blau said. “You don’t have to worry. There’s no way they can escape from my detection range.”

***

Stella was sitting on top of a floating green rock. She glanced down, making eye contact with a pair of emeralds attached to the rock’s surface. “So?” Stella asked. “Are they suspicious?”

“Yep,” Zilphy said. “They planted a tracking magic on either you or the Recordkeeper. Once we move deeper into the woods, they’ll probably attack us. I think it’s the blond guy’s idea.” She scratched her rocky head. “There’s something really weird about that group’s dynamic, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

“You mean other than the fact three women are competing for the same guy while also harmoniously working together?” Stella asked. She rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t take a genius to see something weird is going on. However, as a genius, I can see exactly what’s going on. Those three women are cursed.”

“Cursed? How can you tell?”

Stella puffed out her chest. “Who do you think I am?” she asked. “I’m Stella Arger, the fairy queen of mischievous and slightly dangerous curses. I can see hints of curse magic lingering around those women, and that blond guy is clearly the source.”

Zilphy blinked her emerald eyes. “If you could see that, why didn’t you say anything back at the restaurant? Vur could probably remove their curses, right?”

“Why would I tell someone?” Stella asked and tilted her head.

“Uh….” Zilphy blinked again. “If you see an old lady struggling to carry her bags on the way home, would you help her out?”

Stella stared at Zilphy with a blank expression. “I’m a fairy. Do you know what fairies do? If my offspring saw an old lady struggling with her bags, they’d probably curse her to have slippery hands and laugh at her misfortune.”

Cold sweat ran down Zilphy’s back despite her being a rock. “Right…. Okay. Um. What are we going to do now that we know those people have bad intentions?”

Stella’s eyes lit up. “Stay here,” she said and waved her hand. Her horns glowed, and her body disappeared from view. It was as if a clear coating had been poured down her head, the substance flowing down to her toes. Her voice rang out on top of Zilphy’s head. “I’m going to curse them.”

“Oh,” Zilphy said. “What kind of curse are you going to put on them?” The green elemental waited for a response, but it didn’t come. “Did you already leave? …I guess so.”

***

Helden’s eyes shot open, and his hands went down to clutch his stomach. Blankets rustled all around as his other companions sat up in their beds. Sweat beaded on Helden’s forehead, and he sat up, the motion causing a wave of pain to attack his lower belly.

“What’s wrong?” Blau asked. She looked a bit confused as to why all her companions had woken up at the same time. “Did all of you sense something?”

Forster shot out of bed and dashed into the bathroom, the only one connected to the room. She slammed the door shut, and there was a clanking sound as the wooden latch fell into place, locking the door. However, she wasn’t the only person to get out of bed. Helden and Ingwer were on their way to the toilet as well. The two exchanged glances with each other, each clearly feeling the other’s pain.

“Food poisoning?” Helden asked and took in a deep breath.

“I don’t think so,” Ingwer said and gritted her teeth. Her hands were pulsing with a white light as she clutched her belly. “The pain isn’t going away.”

Blau tilted her head. “I ate the same thing as everyone else,” she said. “Why am I not affected?”

“Maybe you cursed us,” Forster said from inside the bathroom. “You’re the only one who was awake. Who knows what you did while we were sleeping?”

Blau snorted. “As if a scholar would ever dedicate her time to learning such a useless spell,” she said. “It must’ve been something in the drinks.”

“Whatever it was, it’s an emergency now!” Ingwer said and charged out of the room despite wearing only a thin nightgown.

Helden took in a deep breath and staggered after Ingwer. With the poison-resistance skill he had obtained from killing a slime, he wouldn’t be affected by highly potent poison much less food poisoning. This was the work of something else. However, the digging pain in his intestines was breaking his concentration; it was impossible to think of anything other than finding a way to relieve himself!

Blau stared with a blank expression at the now-empty room. Her mother had always told her to stay away from alcohol, and it seemed like that advice finally paid off.