With my lessons over, I take some time to let it sink in as usual, but Eryk keeps drawing my attention. He's trying not to show it, but his shoulders look stiff, and he keeps making these tiny, nervous movements as he reads and writes paperwork at his desk.

Shaking my head, I just push away the last of the lesson that I'm still trying to digest, and stand up. "Eryk," I call, and he looks at me immediately. "Here, let me show you what to do." With a nod, he stands. I make just about a quarter of one unit of lightning mana. I still don't know for sure if the amount is enough, but it's how much I used for the other kids at home, and she might not even be able to hold much more than this anyway. Especially accounting for however much colorless mana she already has in her.

Taking my manastone out, I pull the special fire from inside, and put just the lightning in to take its place, causing the stone to take on a faintly yellowish color. "Alright, I put exactly what you need in the stone. All you have to do is pull it from the stone, and push that mana to Thelia." He nods seriously, then I gulp, reluctantly holding it out for him to take. "Here, try it with me."

Eryk nods again, taking the stone gently from my fingers, and I try to ignore the pain in my heart. I touch his hand, and he focuses for a few moments. He squints a little, and I feel... something. Like some sort of pressure. But I'm not getting any mana from him. "It's not working," he says doubtfully.

"Uhh, let me see..." Probing that feeling, it's kind of like... a push. Focusing on it, I try not to pull. Instead, I try... something else. It's kind of like... like the opposite of the way it feels when I push through solid mana structures. Like letting go, or sort of moving aside, so he can push the mana through, I think. It takes some effort to get it right, but it works. The lightning mana pushes through my barrier, into me. As soon as it's done, I can feel it in the way it moves freely. It's not under Eryk's control anymore.

"There, did that work?" he asks.

"Yeah, but I had to like, let it through. I've never seen anything like that before." I don't have any problem pushing mana into other people. Maybe it's the same as pulling mana, it depends on how much you have? I have to let him do it since I have so much more mana than he does? I'm not totally sure, but I explain my thoughts to Eryk.

We should probably test it, but... we can't really do that, can we? We'd need another person for him to try it on, and it's supposed to be secret that I taught him to use magic...

Then Eryk shakes his head. "This is fine. Like you said, I should have a lot more mana than her, so it should work. I don't want you to shoulder responsibility for things like this, Aria. I'll do everything I can on my own first. If it doesn't work, I'll send John tomorrow to let you know, and maybe we can come up with something else."

I'm not sure I like that answer, but Eryk says he wants to try on his own and it's not my place to stop him. So I just transfer the lightning mana back through Eryk, into the manastone in his hand, before breaking contact. "Ok," I consent quietly. "Please help Thelia."

"Yeah, I will."

After a moment, I hesitantly add, "I... I could go with you, in case it doesn't work?" But he shakes his head.

"I thought you were using these last few days to get ready for whatever you're doing for her."

"W-well, I, umm, but..."

"No, it's fine. You have more important things to do." Then he furrows his eyebrows and looks off to the side. "I haven't pressed you on this since it's obviously not my place to get involved with the work of the gods, but... do you want to talk about it?"

The question makes me hesitate, uncertain. "Well, I know what you mean. I never did explain things, did I?" I'd just torn up my barrier and was halfway unconscious at the time... "I... I mean, I don't have anything against it, but there isn't much to say. Reena marked me. She has something she needs me to do. It's a big secret though, so she can't tell me what it is."

Eryk looks doubtful, but doesn't say anything, so I explain a little further. "I think I mentioned this at the time, but she told me that I'm, uhh..." I'm not sure how to say it exactly, so I just try to be honest. "That my mark is different than usual, so I need to stay hidden from the other gods or they'll realize that she's up to something." Just saying it again makes me shudder anxiously.

"You... did not explain it that clearly." Eryk's face pales even as he speaks. "So, you're sure she's not up to no good?"

"No good?" He doesn't mean...

"Being that secretive..." He gestures vaguely, like it's something obvious.

"W-what? No. No!" I sputter indignantly. "She wouldn't! She's really nice! I mean, at least most of the time... B-but she's helped me a lot!"

"Ok, ok!" Eryk immediately puts his hands up to calm me. "I'm sorry, it's just..." He levels me with a serious look and makes his point. "She saddled a young child with enormous responsibility, and possibly dangerous secrets she herself won't even share. You have to know how bad that looks."

When he puts it like that... "Mmm..."

"She even has you involved in something," throwing up a big shrug because he has no idea what that something is, "dangerous enough to leave you heavily wounded, despite having literal magical powers."

"That's..." That's not how it is. Reena doesn't want me to go, but I can't tell Eryk about that...

"Please Aria, just be careful of her. You say you trust her, but from where I'm standing, it really looks like she's tricking you and using you."

"I know," I finally squeak out. "I know it looks bad, but there's more going on. There are other reasons that I trust her. Things she's done for me. I can't really tell you since some of it is secret and some is, uhh, kind of personal." Like her saving me from Mister Fredricson, and how she taught me to calm down when I get overwhelmed. Those are sort of between us and I'm too embarrassed to talk about them...

"Fine," Eryk sighs. He leans forward, with a complicated, almost guilty look. "I care about you, Aria. I don't want to see you get taken advantage of."

I can't think of anything else, so I say, "Thanks," with a small smile.

There's a pause, and I think he's done talking about that. But before I leave, there's one more thing I have to ask.

"Hey Eryk, I have a question." It's been bothering me since earlier. When he nods, I ask. "Why didn't you ever mention heroes? I mean, when you found out I had powers, why wasn't that the first thing you said?"

The question draws an amused smile. "You told me not to dig into your past. If you're somehow related to the heroes, it's none of my business."

I blink. "Oh." I don't know what I expected him to say, but that still catches me by surprise.

"Why are you asking about this now?" Eryk questions.

"Well, Claire taught me about history today, so it was my first time hearing about them. I mean, my first thought was how they sound just like me. Or I sound like them, I guess?"

"Huh, so you didn't even know about them. Then you aren't related to past heroes in some way?" he prods, just a little.

"I... I don't know..." He raises an eyebrow, but I still have no idea what to think, how rail units sound like Rostor recreating heroes... I can't talk about those thoughts with him anyway. "Well, that's all I wanted to ask. I still have things to do, and I guess you're going to go help Thelia?" I ask, trying to move past my confusion.

"Yeah. Oh, can you refill the manastone?" he asks.

I'm confused for a moment, then I get it. "Oh, I already did that earlier."

He cocks his head. "You did?" I giggle a little and nod as he turns to look at the stone with its faint yellow coloring. "Huh."

"Yeah, if you do it with Thelia, just like earlier, it should work. Let me know if there are any problems, ok?"

"Sure. Thanks a lot. And please, get through whatever it is you have to do." Reaching across his desk, Eryk rubs my head softly. "You're a good kid, Aria."

I smile. "Thanks."

After saying goodbye to Eryk, I head over to the central market since the last thing I need is Mira sap. On the way, that last conversation about Reena still bothers me. It really would sound bad without the full story. And if I really think about it, trying not to bring my feelings into it, it still sounds bad even with the full story.

But that's my fault. Reena told me, didn't she? How she was keeping her distance to avoid pulling me into her problems, until she realized I wouldn't give up on my duties as a rail unit. It was only after that, when she knew she needed to support me directly, that she marked me like she did. She wouldn't have done it until I was older if I didn't force her into it...

With nothing to do with my worried thoughts, I push them away for now. Just focus on the present, I tell myself.

The ninth bell rings as I'm reaching the plaza. I search some, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, so I start to ask around. The shopkeepers direct me over until I reach one stand.

Going up on my toes to look over the counter, there are all sorts of plants and things spread across it. Despite my lessons with Claire about a lot of plants, most of the stuff here is cut and crushed up, so I don't recognize them. And there are a whole bunch of little wooden containers, so I can't even tell what's inside. "See anything you need?" the lady standing there asks.

"Do you have mira sap?"

"Right here." She points out a small wooden container. It's... really small. As I consider it, the woman adds, "two coppers, five nurvites." The price isn't that bad, but the amount... With a defeated sigh, I buy eight of them, as many as I can afford, leaving me with basically no money again.

The woman eyes me oddly, but there's nothing I can do. I should have had them make the metal smaller, I don't even know if this is going to be enough. Thanking her anyway, I leave the stall behind.

The forest is still too dangerous to go hunting, so I won't have any more money to spend for a while. Not that it matters, I can worry about it after I get back from the battle... somehow...

"Why not sell these?" Myra speaks up, pawing at a group of therip she finished killing not too long ago. I try not to look at the cute, fluffy, terrifying horror creatures as she pokes one.

"Because they're poisonous," I remind her flatly. And terrifying.

She rolls her eyes a little. "You know what I mean." Mmm, I do see her point, but I still don't think it's safe... Not safe enough for Emily at least.

"It's not going to be safe enough, not for months at this rate," Myra complains. We all know I'm going to need at least some money. Even if it's just to buy stuff for battle.

But not if it means putting Emily in danger. Absolutely not. I'll find some other way.

"But it's such a waste! We kill so many of these fuckers every day." I shoot her a look for the bad language, but she just shrugs and says she's an adult. That doesn't mean you're allowed to just curse like that... "Not the point!" Myra pushes me back on topic. "We kill so many animals every day, it's a waste to just leave them like this when you're flat broke.

"Ugh..." I groan internally. Now I feel even worse about Myra, Gram, Avara, and Hilde. Like I'm putting their efforts to waste...

But that's not the point! Making money off of trying to protect the town is just...

What's wrong with it? I see people carry back and sell the animals that have attacked them all the time.

"Mmm..." I grumble.

"At least ask Emily," Myra suggests, "it should also be her choice too."

"But she'll definitely say yes!" Myra smirks at my outburst. We both know, not asking her is just my way of trying make the choice for her. That doesn't just make me a horrible friend, but a horrible person. Not person. Whatever.

"Mmmmmmm......" I continue to grumble at her because I know she's right. I don't want to admit it, but she's literally already in my head so now I'm just being stupid. "Fine!" I give in. "Fine. I'll ask Emily about it. But it'll have to come after the battle." I want at least... I don't know, probably Avara and Hilde to come, to help carry me back afterward. If I do survive, I doubt I'll be in much condition to move, like last time. Which means they'll be away from the forest, which means more animals and monster attacks, which means...

When I finally think that, and follow the obvious line of events that will follow, I realize I should warn Frank so he can reinforce the guards on the west side of town.

And that thought finally makes me stop and consider something I forgot about.

Dealing with everything I told everyone right after the enemy attack. Revealing my mark to Minarike, everything I told the others at the clinic...

I wasn't in any condition to do anything after that. By the time I healed, it was sort of out of mind. But I really, really need to talk to everyone, like I did with Eryk earlier.

That includes Marrianne...

I shake my head. I know I need to deal with that, but... maybe tomorrow. For now, I should ask about what sorts of animals and, I guess monsters, we would even be able to sell. Well, I'm not sure how useful the monsters would be.

Not quite all, but most of the monsters Myra and the others have killed have had those evil stones inside, that mangle the animal's original body into terrible shapes. Strangely, none of them showed the same ability to create poisonous mana. In any case, they've been ripping out and destroying any stones they find. I know I need to study one at some point, but just thinking about them still makes it hard to breathe when I remember what I felt from that one before...

Anyway, the problem is once the stone is removed, the whole creepy stone structure warping and reinforcing the monster's body disappears, just leaving an extremely mutilated animal corpse. Probably not that useful, and even though they're larger than normal, there's no way you'd get me to eat the meat from something like that.

I'll ask about it anyway, but I'll probably just leave the monsters. Thinking as much, I move from in front of the weird stall with all of the strange plants and things, over toward the stall where we - or I guess just Emily now - sells the animals we catch.

"Why, hello there," the large stallkeeper with extremely short brown hair greets me when I approach. "Been quite a while since you've been around." Glancing past, that little boy from before isn't with him today. "What happened to your hair?"

"My hair?" I don't understand the random question.

"It's completely white!" he says with a laugh.

I squint a little. My hair is always white... "Uhh..." I still don't get it.

"You look all cleaned up too, guess you haven't been to the forest with everything happening?"

Cleaned up? Oh, now I get it! I was dirty all the time and my hair was always a nasty gray because I couldn't keep it clean. He's never seen me with clean hair before. "O-oh. Umm, not exactly. I've been busy with... things..." I offer lamely, which makes him look amused. "A-actually, I wanted to ask about what you would buy." He raises an eyebrow to tell me to go on. "There are lots of animals and stuff in the forest now, and I was wondering if you buy them. Stuff like boars, aff, or beetles?"

The man recoils. "Those things are dangerous you know, there's no way a kid like you could bring them down!" he warns me.

I wave my hands frantically when he almost starts shouting. "Oh, no, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to know that if we... did... somehow come back with something like that..." I glance off to the side as I speak. "...would you, umm, buy it?"

He frowns at me, all of his usual good humor gone. "Monster hunting is not a profession for girls, especially children like yourselves. There are plenty ways of making money out there that won't get you killed."

"Uhh... whuh...?" What is he talking about? Why would anyone even hunt monsters? Are they worth a lot? No, that's not even what I was asking about! "S-sorry, I'm confused," I try to clear things up, but end up stumbling through my questions in confusion. "Monster hunting? What- no. I mean, I didn't ask anything about hunting monsters." When he just keeps frowning, I try directly asking, "What is monster hunting anyway?"

For a moment, it looks like he doesn't even want to answer, but he relents. "Monster Hunter is a profession. But only crazy people with a death wish do it," he adds pointedly. "Monster hunters are like normal hunters, but they hunt the really dangerous stuff. Animals in the deep forests, magical creatures, or gods forbid, actual monsters."

I hesitate, trying to understand why he says it's that dangerous. And then I remember the monster that attacked us. They needed a dozen guards to take it down, and its poison should have killed three of them.

It was originally a hobin.

It's not fair to compare that to the fights Myra and the others have been in lately. While the monsters have been way larger and scarier, having come from the deep forest, every one, from Myra to Hilde, are powerful magical creatures that now have practically unlimited access to their magic.

It's really not fair to compare them.

I wouldn't dare try to fight one of those myself.

Ok, so he has a really good point that it would be completely insane for an ordinary human to try hunting monsters. And... I guess other similarly dangerous animals and magical creatures.

"I think I understand. Yeah, monster hunting sounds terrifying. But that's not what I was asking about, I just mean, if we managed to carry something back here. You would buy it, right?"

"Yeah, sure. So long as it doesn't look like you're about to get yourselves killed. I... suppose I'd still buy."

"Uhh, does that go for parts?"

"Parts?"

"Well, I mean, I was just thinking there's no way Emily could carry a boar," I can't help the giggle that comes with the statement, "so would bringing parts be worth anything?" I also consider asking about monster parts, but don't bother. After the evil stones are removed the bodies aren't really monsters anymore.

"Ahh, I can see that," he laughs. Now that he isn't so worried about us getting ourselves killed, a bit of his usual humor is coming back. "One tusk probably weighs as much as you do. Yeah, if you could get them back in one piece, I'd have no problem buying. Parts from big game like that have all sorts of uses."

"Umm, also, I was wondering, what about therips?"

The man flinches, face going pale. "Those furry horrors? No. I've heard people make poisons from the little monsters, but I certainly don't sell to any of those sorts."

"Ok..." People make poison out of them? That's horrible! "But... little monsters?" I ask. "I thought they were animals, not monsters."

"For real?" Why is he surprised? "If those don't deserve to be called monsters, nothing does." The way he says that is confusing. Deserve to be called monsters? Sure, the way they open up and their insides are nothing by endless swirling jagged venomous teeth is ueergghh... But-but I thought there was some specific distinction between them, like there is with animals and magical creatures. Do people just call some animals 'monsters' even though they aren't actual monsters?

"What about aff? Are those monsters?" I ask, referring to the giant spiders that live deep in the forests, trying to confirm.

"Yeah, definitely. I heard one bite will have you knocked out for a day." He is calling some animals monsters. What other animals have I heard of that people think are monsters? And what makes something a monster? The evil stones maybe? Were the monsters Myra and the others killed that didn't have the stones not really monsters at all?

I don't know what to think about this, but now isn't the time. "Ok, thanks. I'll let, uhh, my friend know. And don't worry, we won't do anything dangerous," I assure him again. I think just going out of town right now is too dangerous, but I'm sure Emily will want to anyway, so I have to make sure it's as safe as possible, given the circumstances.

But that's for later. Right now, I thank the man for his help and get going. I have everything I need. Just a few more things to deal with before the battle...