“I still can’t believe you’re a mage now.”

Lee Jung repeated herself for at least the third time since they’d left her shack. Even after being healed, her body was so weak that she practically had to be carried, which Jia and Eui were more than happy to do, but it was Ja Yun who ended up offering her shoulder. Strangely, nobody seemed to notice or care about their departure, which suited Lee Jia just fine. Lee Narae and her mother had both looked around in starry-eyed awe when they arrived at the consulate. After getting cleaned up and dressed in some nicer clothing, Lee Jung was looking more like Jia remembered her, while Narae looked a bit uncomfortable in the dress she’d been given.

As promised, they were now sitting around the small table in Jia and Eui’s room and continuing their conversation over a meal. It was a little bit crowded for five people, so Ja Yun opted to simply stand ‘guard’ by the door. She looked a bit awkward, standing around like some kind of bodyguard, but ‘awkward’ was pretty much her standard, and it was her job. In addition to Narae’s bounty of fresh—albeit slightly bruised—fruit, Jia happily pulled from the stock of fine foods she kept in her dimensional ring, including a few of the dishes she’d pilfered from Noguchi’s castle back in Yamato. Lee Jung ate slowly, nibbling carefully at each dish as if trying to stretch it out for as long as possible, while Narae happily scarfed down everything put in front of her.

“It’s a bit of a long story. I’m a lot more than just a mage, and I met a lot of important people during my time at the academy.”

Lee Jung nodded slowly as Jia explained, swallowing another mouthful of food carefully before responding.

“Is that where you met the ambassadors? I was quite shocked that you brought us to the consulate. A few of the girls have been bragging about serving some of the diplomats in town as customers.”

Had they? Jia filed that tidbit away to bring to Hayakawa’s attention later. In the meantime, she scratched her cheek awkwardly and answered Lee Jung’s question.

“Uh...we actually—are the ambassadors. The academy is where we met Lady Hayakawa and Consul Takeda. Rika’s a good friend of ours, actually.”

Lee Jung blinked at Jia in disbelief.

“Oh. I suppose that’s why you have an army warmage following you around. A bodyguard?”

Eui snorted derisively.

“Hardly. Ja Yun’s our chaperone, to make sure we aren’t spying or sabotaging the country. If we ended up in a fight it would be us protecting her.”

Ja Yun bristled a bit at that, but didn’t try to argue, grumbling something under her breath about taking care of herself. Lee Jung took it all in stride, nodding slowly.

“I see. All I can do is take your word for it, but it’s all so...surprising. One day I think you’re dead, and I’m not far behind. The next, you’ve returned as a powerful mage—or cultivator, whatever—from another nation, cured my illness, and saved my daughter from a run-in with the city guard. I—I keep expecting to wake up and discover it’s all just a delirious fantasy.”

Lee Jia reached across the table to take her adopted sister’s hand.

“It’s real. I’m really here, and I’m never leaving you again. Though, your illness...”

Jia trailed off, uncertain how to explain it, but Eui cut in for her.

“It’s not cured. Your body’s been restored as much as possible, and we’ve purged most of the sickness from you, but it dug its roots deeper than we could handle. With a good diet, you’ll start to recover your strength, but you’re going to get sick again. Maybe in a year, maybe in just a few days—we don’t really know.”

Lee Jung hung her head and sighed.

“You did mention that, yes. I appreciate what you’ve done anyway, even if it’s temporary.”

Eui shook her head.

“Yeah, no. We’re not leaving it at that. I’ll repeat the treatment as often as I have to until we can get you to someone that can deal with it.”

Lee Jung cocked her head.

“I thought you said you were the most powerful healer in the country.”

Eui let out a little huff.

“Tsk. In this country, maybe. Truth be told, that was kind of a silly brag. There aren’t any qi healers in Goryeo, so it’s sort of an empty boast. Jia and I are...what did Dae call it?”

“Polymath,” Jia provided.

“Polymaths! That’s it. We’re better than most cultivators of our level at...well, everything, but we do know people who are better than us at certain things. Unfortunately, the healers we know aren’t in the country, and the best option is probably back in the Empire by now.”

Lee Jung’s eyes widened a bit, impressed.

“I—I see. Well, I wouldn’t dare ask you to stay here just for me. I am sure you have much more important things to—”

Jia cut her off with a sharp gesture.

“Absolutely not! I’m not leaving you again, and I am certainly not leaving you at the mercy of fucking Boss Lee!”

Jia hadn’t forgotten her vow to dismantle the gang that had brought her so much misery. Another task to take care of while in Yangye—poor Ja Yun was going to have a fit when she found out.

“You’re coming with us.”

Jia’s tone was final, and Eui nodded along in agreement. Lee Jung hesitated, shaking a bit with nerves.

“I-I know that you’re powerful mages, and you’ve clearly got connections but I—I can’t just leave. The gang will...”

Eui shrugged indifferently.

“We’ll take care of that, don’t worry. Like Jia said, we’re not abandoning you here and they don’t worry us at all.”

“But...what about Narae—oh! That’s right, you had something you wanted to say about her, didn’t you?”

Jia sighed—Lee Jung was clearly trying to change the subject, but Jia couldn’t blame her. After spending so much time under the thumb of Lee’s gang, she didn’t know any better—couldn’t imagine opposing him. She let it go for now, rather than interrupt Eui.

“That’s right, we did want to talk about Narae.”

Narae's ears perked up at the sound of her own name, drawing her attention reluctantly from her food. She cast about with her cheeks bulging out like a chipmunk's. Eui reached out and ruffled the kid’s hair, ignoring Narae’s attempts to slap her hand away.

“It’s nothing bad, don’t worry. I’ll let Jia explain, she’s better at this sort of thing.”

Jia gave Eui an appreciative nod, and turned her attention to Lee Narae.

“Narae, you said before you’d never been caught, right?”

Narae choked down a mouthful of food before answering.

“Mhm! The guards can never catch me!”

“Except for today. I know you were being a little more bold than usual to get extra food for your mom, but she’s been sick for a while, hasn’t she? So why was it today that you happened to let your guard down?”

Narae bristled at the question, frowning down at her lap and mumbling her response.

“I dunno. Just bad luck.”

Jia shook her head.

“Was it? If you hadn’t caused such a ruckus, we might have never noticed, and had you escaped safely, we wouldn’t have needed to step in. In a way, it was quite a bit more lucky that you were caught, don’t you think?”

Narae’s face twisted up in confusion as she tried to make sense of what Jia was saying. Ja Yun’s eyes widened in understanding, but Lee Jung shook her head.

“Jia, I don’t understand. What are you implying?”

“Strong intuition, instincts, luck, a powerful fate—it’s got a lot of names across the continent, but even the mage colleges here in Goryeo recognize it by the name of—”

“Latent mana sense!”

Jia accepted Ja Yun’s interjection with a nod of acknowledgement.

“Exactly—it’s an indication of strong potential in cultivators. In other words, I think little Narae has the potential to be a mage. A very strong potential, actually. Though she hasn’t had the right environment to cultivate it, I think her talent might be comparable to Seong Haeun.”

Lee Jung made a small choking sound, staring incredulously at Jia’s serious expression.

“S-Seong!? A-as in the royal family?”

Ja Yun stepped in with a nervous expression.

“Miss Lee—er, Jia—you shouldn’t say things like that. Even I’ve heard of the youngest princess of the Seong, and she’s supposed to be the strongest talent in the Seong clan since The Fox Princess.”

The Fox Princess, Seong Heiran, had been the most powerful mage Goryeo had ever produced. She had the same enthralling gaze as Jia’s friend, Seong Eunae, and was renowned for having led the only successful war of aggression in the nation’s history, taking territory from the Empire of Qin that Goryeo still held to this day. She had died centuries ago, though the history books weren’t particularly clear on how or why.

Jia tried to suppress a chuckle as she responded.

“Those rumors are probably true, but she’s also only six or seven years old. A cute kid—we met her back at the academy, and she visited often with her sister Eunae.”

Ja Yun and Lee Jung were both completely lost for words, their minds shutting down in the face of such an unbelievable claim. Narae, lacking the context to understand what was being said, just continued to cast confused glances between the adults in the room.

“What’s going on, what are you talking about? Did Jia say I could be a mage like her?”

Jia turned her attention to Narae and smiled sweetly.

“You can be more than just a mage, Narae. You can be cultivators like us. Strong enough to protect yourself and your mother from a hundred Boss Lees. Would you like us to teach you?”

Narae’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“Really!? Can you? Can I? Please!?”

She looked eagerly between Jia and Jung, and her mother let out a shaky breath, meeting Jia’s eyes while her own were filled with uncertainty.

“You...you’re serious about this? You want to take Narae on as a—an apprentice or something?”

Jia nodded.

“Apprentice, disciple, student—I don’t really care much about titles. She’s my little sister and I want to train her. You are family—both of you—the only family I’ve ever had, and I have seven years to make up for. So yes, I want to teach Narae cultivation, I want to find a cure for your illness, I want to take you with us so that I’m not abandoning you again, and I want to raze Boss Lee’s shitty gang to the fucking ground.”

Ja Yun snapped to attention, wiping her misty eyes as she did a double take to Jia’s last words.

“Wait, you want to do what!?”

Jia met her eyes with the coldest gaze she could manage.

“You heard me. I promised myself I would destroy his gang—tear it out by the roots. If he’s here in this city, I’m going to find him. Lee Jung will never be able to feel safe if I don’t, and I won’t have my big sister constantly looking over her shoulder in fear.”

Left unsaid was the fact that Jia felt the same way as her sister, as irrational as it was. Eui was right, Boss Lee represented fifteen years of trauma that Jia needed to resolve, and she was done running from it. Ja Yun swallowed nervously, glancing between Jia and Eui’s serious expressions, Lee Jung’s stunned silence, and little Narae—who’d gone straight back to eating as soon as she wasn’t being addressed.

“Oh, ancestors damn it. This is exactly the kind of shit I’m supposed to stop you from doing. Are you serious!? Is this a really elaborate prank, or do you just secretly hate me? How many ways are you going to find to get me fired?”

Eui fixed Ja Yun with a glare that sent shivers down her spine.

“We are dead serious. Boss Lee’s legacy ends the very moment we track that scumbag down. The question is—are you going to try to stop us?”

Ja Yun ran her hands through her hair and growled in frustration.

“Uuuugh...no. No, I’m not. Ancestors, this assignment is going to kill me, I swear. You guys better make it up to me later.”