All of a sudden, a roar broke through the air. The General had discovered the intruders and commenced blasting the shadow figures away with his fists. The Shadows would leap back, then swoop forward, in an unnaturally swift manner.

Darwin was also deflecting the shadows with well-aimed martial techniques, instead of brute strength.

It seemed those two had been waiting for this to happen. Thera surmised. But it was too bad. The enemy had already reached her room.

Thera, calm, pretended to have just awoken from sleep due to the General’s roaring outside. She pretend-yawned and rubbed her eyes. She sat there with half-opened eyes. “What’s happening?” She asked, in a sleepy voice.

A shadow creeped under the door, and stole up to the bed, then rose and surrounded Thera in a dark bubble as if to engulf her.

Thera sneezed, and cast a flash ball at the same time-making it look like she had accidentally cast it, as young novices sometimes did.

The shadow screeched as it was riddled full of holes. Then it fled quickly back under the door. Soon enough, the shadows retreated, and the General stomped his way hurriedly up the stairs.

“Thera! Are you all right?!” He shouted as he barged into her room.

Thera was sitting up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Huh? Yeah…Why were you shouting just now? I was having a nice dream.”

He heaved a sigh of relief. He had broken into a cold sweat when he had heard the shriek from her room. He leaned against the doorway.

“Oh, just the boogeyman. I fought him away with these very fists, see?” He laughed. “You go back to sleep. I’ll make sure nothing gets by me!”

Hardly encouraging when you just let an enemy, who was out to get me, slip past you right under your nose. Thera thought.

“Oka-yawn- okay” She replied, and lay back down again. This time, Thera actually went to sleep. If she had to, she could awaken within mere moments anyways. It seems tonight was not the night to catch the criminal.

And so, the first part of Thera’s plan ended.

----------------------

Nothing happened for the rest of that night. The next morning, the smell of frying sausages and pancakes fanned out and tickled the noses of both Darwin and the General.

When they followed their noses, they were surprised to find Thera, flipping a pancake onto a third large stack of pancakes.

She spread butter and syrup over the top ones, adding just a dash of cinnamon, then flipping another finished pancake on top and repeat the process.

The sausages had just been taken off the griddle, so they were still piping hot.

The general laughed. “By the King’s Crown, Thera! What is all this? Did you make breakfast for us?”

He knew she must have gotten up early in the morning to start on these. He was also wondering how Thera had gotten by him without his noticing, since he knew he hadn’t heard a single sound since last night.

Thera moved the griddle off the heat, the piles of pancakes completed. “Yes. And don’t you go and try to get out of it. It would be a complete waste of food not to eat this, and you know it.”

“I know what sausages are, but I’ve never seen a food like this before. What are these? What are they called?”

Darwin asked. He looked over the stacks, which smelled positively mouthwatering.

“Oh, these? They’re something the cook came up with to celebrate my getting better. She called them pancakes.” Thera replied truthfully.

The General’s eyes sparked in recognition. “Thera of Rose Manor….you mean the same Thera who managed to survive the Hades fever in the Murlough poisoning case? You were quite the topic at the castle a while ago, Sir Maverick’s seldom-seen daughter.”

Ugh. Busted. Thera thought behind her smiling face. Now they know who I am. I should have just used my fake name earlier, but I wasn't sure if they were using a truth-spell or not. Might as well make the best of it, I suppose.

Thera curtsied. “At your service~ ah, but before we continue talking, can you help me carry these to the table? They’re a bit too heavy for me, so…”

The General laughed again, grabbing two plates, while Darwin grabbed the remaining plate and the platter of sausages. Thera followed behind them with the silverware and some cups.

After setting the table, she went back into the kitchen for a pitcher of water. When she came out, the other two were already half-finished with their pancakes.

“Hey! No-fair! You started without me!” She complained as she set the water down on the table.

The General winked.

“You’re lucky. At my house, if you didn’t eat your food, someone else would volunteer-eat it for you.”

Thera frowned, and with a ‘hmmph!’ Sat down in her seat. “Well, we’re not in your house, now, are we?” She began to eat as well, concentrating upon her food.

From what Thera remembered, the house they were in was a small inn with a bar. She also suspected that the General chose the location for the copious amounts of alcohol stored away in the cellar. But, naturally, she wasn’t going to say anything about it.

The General and Darwin just laughed and continued eating. When they had scraped the last bit of butter, syrup, and grease off of their plates, they chatted to each other as they turned their eyes to Thera’s stack of pancakes.

All three stacks of pancakes had been of equal height, and each stack was enough to fill the stomach of a grown man. Seeing a small girl trying to eat a grown man’s portion, both men were wondering when she would give up and stop eating.

But Thera didn’t stop eating. The stack, which was half as tall as she, was gradually whittled down. As she ate, the faces of the two slowly ranged from simple observance, to bemusement, to concern, to amazement.

Thera looked up from her food, noticing the talk had died down. “Is something wrong?” She asked.

“Doesn’t your stomach hurt?” Darwin asked her. “You’ve eaten enough to burst three times over.”

Thera tilted her head, innocently, considering. “No?”

“Why is that a question!?” Darwin exclaimed, uncomfortably.

Thera shrugged. “I’ve been this way ever since the fever.” Having said that, she kept eating. Darwin fell silent after that.

Half of the pancake stack was left, a third, a tenth…finally, the whole stack of pancakes had been eaten. Thera put down her fork and sighed with contentment. Then she looked at the two men.

“What?” She asked.

The General shook his head, chuckling. “Nothing.” It seemed that when this little girl grew up, she would become something quite interesting…

----------------------

After four more days of sweeping through the town, it was confirmed that there really was no one there. Thera glanced around with the General, but didn’t say anything at all, aside from smiling and murmuring

“Interesting…very interesting.”

Each night brought with it a new attack from the dark beings, who would then suddenly vanish as quickly as they'd appear. By the fifth day, the General and Darwin were feeling particularly frustrated.

For lunch that day, they had sandwiches.

As it began to get dark, once again, the three once more gathered at the inn.

“No sign of anything! A lot of good today did for us.” Darwin remarked bitterly.

“I can’t say I’ve had any particular insights either.” The General agreed. “But we can’t give up! The lives of this town are depending on us!”

“I’m beginning to wonder if either of you even have eyes in your heads at all.” Thera remarked bluntly.

““Whatever do you mean?”” Darwin and the General asked with blank eyes.

“…Well, regardless, the whole thing will come to a head tonight, so you’d best stay on your guard.” Thera replied

“Hey, you just skipped the whole explanation! Don’t just skip things because they’re difficult!” Darwin threw out another tsukkomi.

Strange: even though the culture here is mostly western, they still have Tsukkomis? Thera grinned. But she wasn’t going to give out any hints this time. The culprit was present, after all.

“Ah, look at the sunset! Time for bed~!” She said, and then walked towards the stairs.

“You haven’t even had dinner yet!” Darwin exclaimed.

“I already ate! Bleeh!” Thera said, closing one eye and spitting out her tongue. “Dinner’s in the kitchen anyways.” Then she continued upstairs to bed.

Darwin turned to find the General already eating a large plate of rice mixed with fried meat and vegetables.

“Oy! Where’s my plate?”

The General simply looked up at him.

“Didn’t you hear? The kitchen.”

Darwin sighed as he went to grab his plate.

----------------------------

Later that night, Darwin and the General were once more guarding outside. It being the fifth night, Darwin would yawn every now and then.

Once more, the mist rolled in. Once more, the dark figure appeared with its army of dark beings, and advanced upon the house. Darwin and the General fought tooth and nail with them, keeping them from intruding.

Only this time, there was no light flash coming from upstairs. Just like the last night, the dark figures retreated just as suddenly as they had appeared.

The General once more ran upstairs to Thera’s room. But this time, she was gone! Surprise, then shock covered his face, then finally guilt and frustration. He fell to his knees, pounding his fist upon the floor, which threatened to break under his blow. Darwin, coming up behind him, could only stand still in the doorway as he watched this scene, a bitter expression on his face.

Then, through the window, they saw a light fly up and burst above the area in front of the martial hall.

The General's face immediately brightened a bit in hope, as he realized the firework was a sign from Thera, showing where she was. He immediately jumped out of the window, rolled a landing, and was up on his feet in a flash, running towards Martial Hall.

Darwin stood there for a few more moments, then clicked his tongue in frustration and ran down the stairs, an odd light in his eyes.

When The General arrived on the scene, Thera was surrounded by dark figures just beginning to attack her.

He roared again, and barreled head-on into the fray, but soon noticed that no matter how many times they struck out towards her, they could not hit her at all.

She simply sat there, on an odd black stone with her eyes closed, remaining unhurt. Then her eyes blazed light as she opened them, and pointed towards the sky, hurling a massive fireball up into the air.

It went higher and higher until it seemed to strike something, and separated into a fiery spider web pattern, spreading and blazing above the town.

After but a few moments, the fire went out, and the surrounding dark figures fell to the ground. The General looked at Thera, then at the figures on the ground, then at Thera again.

“How did-” He began to ask, but suddenly, a huge black shadow on the ground swiftly made its way towards Thera like flowing ink.

The General sprang into action with [Lightning Steps], slipping in between Thera and the shadow on the ground.

It tried to go left, but the General was in the way. It tried to go right, but the General was still in the way. The shadow suddenly backed off.

“Trying to run are you?! I won’t have it!”

The large man roared as he charged towards the fleeing shadow. It flowed up a nearby wall and launched past him. The General swung his sword, but the sword simply passed through it with no resistance whatsoever and once more sped towards Thera.

“THERA!” He bellowed.

It was nearly upon her, leaping up and spreading out, a blanket of darkness speeding towards her.

She looked at it, with a blank, uncomprehending stare. The shadow had almost completely engulfed her when…she sneezed.

Instantly, light burst out, shredding the monster to pieces with a shriek. With a simple light spell, the dark monster had been killed.

It was at that moment that Darwin arrived. He stared blankly at Thera, and then at the dark figures on the ground, and then at the General, who had since walked over by Thera. His usual expression-filled demeanor was gone, replaced by a deadpan expression.

Thera continued sitting down upon the rock, eyes closed, as if she were sleeping in a sitting position.

Unobserved by the other two, her shadow extended to link up with the General’s and Darwin’s shadow, as she cast an immobilization spell on their legs. As long as they didn’t try to walk anywhere, they wouldn’t even notice it was there.

“What happened here?” Darwin asked, slowly. Thera ignored him. “Thera? General?”

The General scratched his head. “What happened, you say? I can hardly believe it myself. If I hadn’t seen it, I still wouldn’t believe it.” He glanced over at Thera, who continued to ignore the two.

“And? Who defeated all the shadow beings? Why is Thera sitting on that rock over there?” He asked. "Where did that rock even come from?"

Thera remained silent. The General finally said. “She took down the shadow beings with a fire spell aimed at the heavens, and then destroyed an unidentifiable shadow creature with a light spell when she sneezed.”

"Correction! There was only one shadow being."

Thera opened her eyes.

"What do you mean, girl! Did you not see all these figures attacking you!?" The General exclaimed.

Thera shook her head. "Those were mere puppets. The only shadow beast that was here tonight, was the one I destroyed personally."

Darwin had a strange expression on his face for half a second, before returning to his usual pleasant demeanor.

“What’s wrong, Darwin?” Thera asked, staring at him in the same unblinking manner as a cat. “Too impressed to speak? Or too frustrated now that your plans have been foiled?”

He stiffened. “I beg your pardon? Whatever do you mean?”

Thera shrugged. “The General was easier to figure out. He was simply using me as bait to draw out the group behind all the mass killings. But he was fully intending to protect me from them as well, once they showed up.”

The General scratched his cheek with a finger, feeling a bit awkward to be seen through by a child. Wait. Plans? He turned to look at Darwin, who was frowning. Thera continued in a laid-back manner.

“You, on the other hand, were a harder nut to crack. You seemed perfectly normal, most of the time. But you slipped up eventually, you know. The other night, when I had just avoided being swallowed by the shadow creature, you looked much more frustrated than a mere five nights of lacking sleep would bring about.”

Thera sighed, clicking her tongue.

“Impressive, really. To think that the mysterious group was actually a single man with his tamed circus. Even the way that you asked your questions betrayed who you were.”

Darwin frowned. “What does it matter how I ask my questions? You’re being unreasonable, Thera.”

“Unreasonable? Perhaps in front of someone who doesn’t understand what happened tonight, I may seem unreasonable indeed….Very well then. I shall explain everything from the beginning.”

Thera decided after musing for a few moments.

“Ridiculous! You’ve done nothing but eat, talk, and sleep all day! General, this is obviously simply the overactive imagination of a child.” Darwin huffed.

The General raised a hand.

“I’ll decide for myself whether it is simply make-believe or not, Darwin.”

He said, in a grave voice. If Thera had tried to tell him such things earlier, then he wouldn’t have believed her. But, having seen Thera defeat the previously undefeated shadow beings, there was definitely something more than meets the eye here.

Thera nodded. At least it was clear that they weren’t on the same page. In fact, it was highly likely that the General himself was innocent, but she needed to confirm it.

“Thank you. Now, might I ask you, General, how the bodies of the villagers in the previous villages were found?”

The General jerked his head, and turned it aside, struggling inwardly.

Thera glanced over at Darwin. His face was mostly still blank, but his breathing had sped up, and he stared into the distance-his eyes bright as if he were recalling a fond memory. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile for but a millisecond. If Thera hadn't been watching him, she would have missed it.

I knew it. It's another one of those murdering addicts. His expression was all that Thera needed to see in order to know that he was the killer.

“The villagers…were all found in a pool…of their own blood.” He finally revealed, gritting his teeth, his face filled with a deep sorrow.

“Rather, they were found swimming in a pool of blood, yet not a drop of blood was still in them, right?” Thera asked.

The General’s head jerked around and he stared at Thera. “How did you-”

“Simple. I confirmed it myself.” She looked off into the distance. “The last town was Barrymore…” Then she shook her head to clear it.

The sight of the town as it was, one month old, with mummified corpses on the ground, and surrounded by dried blood had been a bad enough sight to see. To imagine that the same thing might happen to her own town was more than Thera could bear.

She sighed.

“Regardless, such a thing cannot be accomplished by a man. Even though it may seem like they were cut open and bled out, the cuts were actually done after they had been sucked dry. In every man, woman and child, there was one distinctively common wound: a puncture wound in the shoulder, right above the heart.”

Thera punctuated this with a finger.

“It is through this wound that all of the blood had been drawn out. Now, killing is all very common, but there is yet no man that is capable of a massive-scale operation like bleeding out an entire town in a mere three days-and through such a small puncture wound as that, too. No, such a thing is only possible with the aid of a flock of demonic beasts. And not just any beasts, mind you.”

She watched Darwin’s face as it became strangely more and more expressionless and calm. Then she let the words fall.

“This sort of bloody massacre is only possible with the aid of at least fifteen emperor-class vampire spiders.”

Finally, Darwin’s blank expression changed. His eyes flickered, and he stared at Thera hungrily, as if already envisioning her as a corpse, drowning in a pool of her own blood.