So, after working until I saw numbers underneath my eyelids...I decided to write a bit until I got tired...but I didn't get tired, and it was morning by the time I realized it. And so, I ended up writing a whole chapter. Seriously, I'm still not tired, but it's just too weird...it's probably stress, though.

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“…So you just tripped over a pile of dirt while exchanging pointers? They didn’t threaten you or anything?” Thera asked.

“No! Absolutely not!” Laura replied.

Thera frowned.

“But…I don’t like this. The dirt from this pile came from that hole. The only ones who could dig such a hole so quickly are those two. And you still say it’s not their fault? If they were only here to see you, what use did they have to dig a hole this big?”

Laura opened her mouth to speak, and then shut it, looking like she just realized this.

Thera turned to the two men, eyeing them suspiciously. “Moreover, why are you two digging a hole here, anyways? What are you doing in this place? I was not told by Master Thales that we would have any visitors today. Explain yourselves!”

Leather-clad and Black Cloak knelt in seiza nearby.

Black Cloak raised his hand. “U-um…we were actually here to see Miss Murlough, b-but…before that we had to retrieve something from here.”

“Retrieve something? Retrieve what, might I ask?” Thera interrogated.

“It doesn’t concern you!” Leather-clad replied, proud, even though he was in seiza. Thera ignored Leather-clad, focusing her golden eyes on Black Cloak. Under her unblinking stare, he spilled out quite the believable tale.

“It was a treasure chest buried here by my late Great, Great, Grand Uncle. We just recently found the map in a hidden compartment in his house, while going through his stuff after his death. Since we were in the area, we recognized the terrain and decided to check and see if there was still something here or not. But, please understand, our original purpose was to see Miss Murlough.”

“Well? Did you find anything?” She asked.

Black Cloak shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. There was no treasure chest here.”

Thera sat back, looking as if she were considering something.

Of course, what Black Cloak had said was complete and total bull. They probably found the map in a treasure chest in the woods, or something. They were obviously hiding that piece of English text, but that didn’t really matter to Thera, since she already understood the meaning.

She was about to finish her act of thinking things through, when all of a sudden, a loud gurgling sound came from the two men in seiza. Leather-clad’s face turned red with embarrassment. “Ah, something smells good…”

Thera sniffed, and realized that it was probably the smell of the stew that Laura had been making.

While Thera had watched the two men dig their hole, Laura had returned to stir the stew. The smell was probably only just reaching this place.

Thera nodded, and then smiled, her eyes twinkling.

“Right, then! Since you’ve come so far, it would be a pity for you to leave before having a taste of Miss Murlough’s wonderful cooking. I can almost taste it now~!”

She helped Laura get to her feet, having her lean on Thera’s shoulder. Then she turned to the two men.

“If you want to eat, then you’ll have to follow me.” She said, before dashing off towards the camp, with Laura in tow.

“Wait!” The two men yelled as they fell over. They had been in Seiza for so long that their legs had gone completely numb.

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Luckily, the smell of the stew was more than enough to lead them straight to camp.

When they arrived, they saw a huge cauldron of food, sitting on top of a small campfire. Around the cauldron, three logs had been placed for seats. Thera was already holding a bowlful of stew.

“You’re late! What took you so long? Did you fall back in the hole you dug?” She joked.

Neither man was willing to admit that their tardiness was due to losing the feeling in their legs.

“Thera, be nice~. They’re probably starving by now!” Laura admonished, then turned to the two men. “Do sit down. I bet you’re so hungry that you can eat at least twice as much as me and Thera combined.”

“That I can, Miss Murlough! I’m glad you’re such an understanding and caring genius!” Leather-clad praised. The words obviously implied that Thera was neither understanding, nor caring.

“O-ho! So it’s a fight you want?” Thera asked, her eyes sparking with fighting intent.

“No way! How on earth can such a responsible adult, such as myself, deign to fight with a little girl?” Leather-clad replied, still conscious of the beating he had gotten earlier.

“No dice, huh…All right, then, how about this!” Thera exclaimed, lifting up her bowl of stew.

“The one who eats more stew can be considered the winner, and the loser has to absolutely do whatever one thing that the winner asks them to!”

“But Thera!” Laura grabbed Thera’s arm. “What if they win?” She asked worriedly.

Thera grinned, confidently. “Don’t worry! If they win, then they’ll probably just ask for your autograph so that they can brag about meeting the genius Miss Murlough to their grandkids.”

Black Cloak motioned to Leather-clad. It wasn’t a bad deal. Two adults against two children was literally almost no contest.

Moreover, if the two men won, they could have Thera and Laura swear to be silent about their trespassing, and they could leave without being hunted down by Master Thales.

It was almost a perfect example of a win-win situation.

Leather-clad leaned forward, a lazy grin on his face. “All right! Let’s go! Me and my little brother against you and Miss Murlough.”

Thera smiled. She wasn’t bothered by what she was doing to the two men because they had lied to her face. But, such unscrupulous liars should not pass before her eyes without receiving their fair share of karma…

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The first person to lose was Laura, of course. After a mere three bowls of stew, she was finished.

“I entrust you with my fighting spirit!” Laura said dramatically, placing her hand on Thera’s back.

Even though Laura was out of the game, she still stayed there, ladling out the stew, and observing the eating ‘battle’ that was going on.

After Laura’s early retirement, Leather-clad and Black Cloak were visibly in much higher spirits. After all, who wouldn’t be pleased to see that their side was most likely to win? It was obvious that Thera couldn’t get past ten bowls of stew, unless she wanted to burst her stomach.

The three remaining contestants kept eating stew.

The second person to lose was Black Cloak.

“Sorry, Bro! I snacked on Jerky for a bit when you went to scout!” he said as he retired at eight bowls.

“No problem! It’s fine. I’ll eat enough for the both of us!” Leather-clad said.

Thera was surely getting close to her limits by now, right? He looked up, and paused as he tried to remember how many bowls she had eaten...

“Are you also going to retire?” Laura asked.

…Oh well. Suffice to say that that kid was probably quite close to her limits. Leather-clad continued eating his stew, bringing the bowl close up to his mouth.

He had always been a big eater. Even his mother was amazed at how much food he ate, wondering where he could possibly put it all.

After he had eaten about fifteen bowls of stew, he was getting full. He also realized that something was wrong.

Thera was still continuing to eat stew!

Thera had mastered by now the art of transforming food into energy swiftly to the point where, if you could look into her stomach, the food literally disintegrated as it arrived.

Bowl after bowl she had eaten without a single change in expression. She was even reading a book while eating.

The nerve! Leather-clad frowned as he started on his sixteenth bowl.

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By his ninteenth bowl, he was in a bind. He was now completely full, and Thera was still eating at the same measured pace, with seemingly no end in sight.

If he ate even another bite of that stew, then his own stomach would burst.

“This is impossible! You must be cheating somehow!” Leather-clad accused.

“I’ve been right here in front of you all this time. In what way could I cheat in a simple eating contest?” Thera replied evenly. “But, for the sake of fairness, look around all you want. I assure you that you won’t find anything.”

“We’ll see!” he said as he stood up and looked around Thera’s log. There was not a single drop spilled behind her, or next to her. Leather-clad searched all about her until his eyes focused on Thera’s magic bag.

“What about that magic bag of yours! You could’ve easily poured it into there!” He crowed, triumphant.

“This is ridiculous. For the sake of winning a simple eating contest, I would pour stew straight into my bag and possibly ruin whatever else I put in there? Moreover, when did I have the time to put it in there? But, for the sake of the argument, let’s do this.”

Thera took off her belt with the magic bag and handed it to Laura.

“Now you can’t say that I have anywhere to place it other than in my mouth, right? Consider all the bowls that I just ate as disqualified.”

“Sure! Now that your cheating weapon is gone, I’ll gladly accept whatever results you get.” Leather-clad replied in a condescending manner. Obviously, there was no way that a brat like this could eat much more. It was clearly his win.

Thera stood up and stretched. “After such a long time of sitting it feels good to stand a bit!” Then she walked over to the huge pot of stew.

“About how many bowls of stew do you think is still in here?” She asked Leather-clad, a bright smile on her face.

Leather-clad, looking into the cauldron, saw that it was still more than half-full.

“Fifty bowlfuls at least.” He replied. “But, it would probably be about sixty bowlfuls.”

Perhaps, she isn’t thinking of tipping it over so that the contest can’t continue!? Leather-clad thought. But, well, if she did that, it would still be his win, so he decided to simply watch.

Black Cloak, watching this exchange suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

What Thera did next was completely out of the scope of either of the two men’s imaginations.

She picked up the huge cauldron and started poured it in a long stream down her throat. The two men just stared with open mouths as she drained the cauldron empty.

Leather-clad was even more astonished. There had been enough stew in that cauldron to make another Thera. Just how could a girl her size eat such an amount? His head went dizzy trying to make sense of it all.

Thera set the empty cauldron down.

“Now, I have eaten three times as much as you, and twice as much as you and your brother combined.” Thera announced with an air of finality. “Unless, you still mean to say that I cheated somehow?”

“Geh!” Leather-clad awoke from his mental stupor. “Che!” He turned away, frustrated, but unable to refute what he had witnessed with his own eyes.

“So, about that thing that you absolutely must do for me…” Thera began.

Leather-clad and Black Cloak flinched.

“I was thinking about it the whole time during the competition, but in the end, all I could think of was for you to leave the cultivation area as soon as possible.” She finished.

“What are you saying, Thera!” (Laura)

“Eh?” The two men’s eyes turned into dots. What was she saying?

“It’s a matter of keeping up appearances. Just imagine the scolding we’d get if Master Thales came back and found you two here. He would most likely…” Thera looked away, and shuddered. Laura picked up on it, and looked down. “That’s true. I’d hate to have to see that again.”

That was all the two men needed to see to confirm their suspicions.

“A-ah! Why didn’t I think of it before! We must have been troubling you.” Leather-clad said laughing nervously as he and Black Cloak stood up.

“Man, we were beat soundly this time! But, let it never be said that we brothers were sore losers. We will leave immediately.” Leather-clad and Black Cloak turned to leave.

“But, since it’s getting dark, the least we two could do is escort you to the barrier.” Thera said, playing the courteous noble.

“Really? You don’t really have to, though.” Leather-clad replied, with his hands raised.

“I insist. This way I can cover your tracks so that Master Thales won’t find out you were even here.” She said, serious.

“A-ah, then we’ll be troubling you.” Leather-clad replied. It was already a blessing just for them to be able to leave with peace of mind.

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That being said, she actually did escort them all the way back to the barrier, while diligently wiping out all traces of their passage. Laura remained behind at camp, due to her ‘injured’ leg.

“I am not allowed to go outside the barrier, so I must leave you here.” She informed the two.

“T-that’s fine. We’ll be able to make it back on our own from here.” Black Cloak reassured.

“Safe travels!” She waved as the two men went through the barrier.

Once they were out, they immediately took to their heels and sped away into the night. Thera grinned as she watched them leave. They would not be back any time soon with the thought of Master Thales after them.

After seeing the two men off, she waited a reasonable amount of time, and then vanished back into the forest, heading for the hole the two men had dug earlier. It was time to reap the benefits.

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When she arrived, she found Laura already there, looking down into the hole.

“You know, there’s nothing in there.” She said as she landed right next to Laura. Laura shrieked and tipped over. If it wasn’t for Thera’s quick reaction in grabbing her, Laura would have fallen in.

“Thera! Seriously, don’t do that! My heart was about to leap out of my throat!” Laura scolded.

“Should I have let you fall in, then?” Thera pondered visibly, playing off of Laura’s words.

“No! But a bit of a warning before you appear wouldn’t hurt you!” Laura pouted.

Thera laughed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I got it. I won’t appear without warning next time.” She said nothing about the times after that.

“Still, for there to have been an artifact here at one point is really quite shocking.” Laura said, looking at the hole. “It’s a shame it’s not here anymore.”

“Whoever said that it was not here?” Thera asked.

“Can’t you see this great big hole?! They dug so deep and didn’t find a thing! Also, Thera, why did you allow them to take away that piece of ancient writing? It could have been something important!” Laura blamed Thera.

Thera chuckled. “Sorry, Sorry~ I didn’t know that it was such a big deal.”

“How is it not a big deal! It’s ancient writing after all!” Laura pouted, turning away.

Thera shook her head, an incredulous smile still on her face.

“That’s too bad. I thought you’d be happy to know that the treasure is actually still here. I figured it out, after all: the trick to finding the artifact.”

“What!” Laura’s attitude did a complete 180 degree turn. “Really?! Where is it?!” She begged, giving Thera the ‘puppy dog eyes’.

“Nope, as I thought, for my best friend to be so untrusting of me, I can’t bring myself to share it.” Thera teased.

“Oh my best and most beloved of friends! What is a paltry piece of metal and a brief moment’s scare compared to thee? Thou art the moonbeams of the night, which rests upon the trees, and scatters lights upon the waters. Thou art-” Laura was stopped by Thera’s giggle.

“Jeez! Would you cut that out? I was going to tell you anyways.” She said.

“Let’s hear it, then!” Laura watched Thera, listening intently.

“Before that, I need to return things to how they were.” Thera replied. Waving her hand, she cast an earth-manipulation spell and returned the dirt inside the hole, making it look like the hole never even existed.

“There we go. Now, Laura, how do you find invisible things?”

“What?” She asked, not understanding.

“The artifact is here, but it’s currently invisible. How can we figure out where it is?” Thera asked again.

“I don’t know.” Laura replied.

“Perhaps this will help explain things. Do you remember the story of the invisible thief in Pranson’s book, ‘Mendlebane’?” Thera asked.

“You mean the one about the unrivaled master thief that Pranson went up against?” Laura asked.

Thera nodded. “The very same. How did Pranson find out where the thief was, when he was invisible?”

“Didn’t he see the thief’s shadow cast on the wall by the torchlight?” Laura replied.

“Correct! Therefore, what can we know about invisible things?” Thera asked, patiently.

“I don’t know.” Laura replied immediately.

“Even though they’re invisible, they still cast a shadow.” Thera replied. “Therefore if we-”

“If we shine a light high enough, we’ll be able to tell where the box is! Thera, you’re a genius!” Laura hugged Thera.

“Oh? I thought we’d already established that fact.” Thera said sarcastically, her face expressionless. “But, we only need two light sources to pinpoint its exact location.”

Thera snapped her fingers and two balls of light popped into existence. They then floated up in the air, one ball ten feet higher than the other ball. Laura was looking up, watching the lights until they stopped, hovering just below the tree line.

“Why are you looking up? We’re searching for the box’s shadows. Look down.” Thera reminded her.

“Oh, right!” Laura looked around for the shadows, and there they were! Two box shadows about two feet apart.

“Amazing! It’s just like you said!” Laura clapped her hands.

“Hmm…according to the trajectory, the box is about ten feet up in the air, huh? There’s no other way but jumping. Who invented this crazy way of hiding things?” Thera grumbled.

She stood on the spot where the hole had been and leapt up lithely, like a cat. Her hand made contact with an invisible surface, pushing it up, slightly, before she fell back down and landed silently on her feet.

The light coming from the light balls suddenly started gathering, illuminating the edges of the box as it slowly became visible. Once it had become completely visible, it slowly lowered itself down to the ground, shining with a bright light.

Thera and Laura looked at each other, excited. What kind of wonderful thing would be inside?

Thera placed a hand on it, trying to figure out how to open it, when all of a sudden, the box shattered into particles of light, leaving behind a wooden chest.

“Hurry up and open it! I want to see~” Laura urged excitedly.

Thera lifted the lid and they both stared at what was inside.

Upon a velvet cushion sat a smooth white stone about the size of a bluebird’s egg.

“This is-” Thera was interrupted by Laura.

“Just a stone!? Forget it! You can have it, Thera.” Laura scoffed. “This was such a waste of our time.” She sighed and headed back to camp.

Thera stood there, the small treasure box in her hands. Indeed, at first, Thera thought the very same thing, but something had caught her eye as Laura was talking.

Using her outer magician’s vision, she could see that the stone was actually absorbing the mana around it.

What kind of an item had she come across this time?