Ugh. I have found myself in a bad situation. A $600 rent bill with no money is no joke.

But, it's all my fault really...I was convinced to lend out money I shouldn't have, and now I'm the one biting the bullet, because that person has delayed returning what she borrowed.

I'm sick of this situation.

Please pray for me, that everything goes well.

Because I'm tired of spending my days here in Hell.

But, I guess I'm still too proud to ask people for money...this story, I really didn't begin writing it for something like that.

And I feel that if I do ask for money, that I'm somehow crossing a certain line that I shouldn't cross. That this fun story I'm writing will become something it was never intended to become.

But, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get myself out of this problem so easily. Therefore, please pray for me.

Moreover, pray that I stop being such an easily-moved, soft-hearted dunce.

Enjoy~

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How could Briar be so brilliant? How could she know every turn the opponent was going to make? Was she psychic? Did she have powers to see into the future? The answer to those questions is a resounding ‘No’.

But Briar had amassed many very useful old, or forgotten ancient spells during her five years of study under Madam Rothema. And three of those spells happened to be in near constant use.

[Tracking], [Spy] and [Audio] were nearly always on. Only when Briar was sleeping did the spells stop sending information to her.

[Tracking] was a spell that did just that. It places a tracking signature upon the person, beast, or item that the caster places it on. In order to place a tracking signature, though, the caster needs to be in contact with its subject for at least one moment.

Briar had placed it on Gypsum’s hand when she had exchanged the money for the herbs with him. So, the reason his appearance had not surprised her in the least was because she already knew he was there.

[Spy] is a sub-spell of [Tracking]. What that means, is that it is a spell that cannot be invoked without having first placed a tracking signature. It gives the caster a visual of its subject, and the area surrounding the subject.

Another sub-spell of [Tracking] is [Audio]. Like I’m sure you’ve realized, it helps the caster hear everything in the vicinity of the subject that the caster is tracking. These three spells were never made wide-spread, because this was from a magic book that Madam Rothema found inside an artifact a long time ago.

She had decided that these spells were too dangerous, and so she kept them a secret, hiding them among her great library of books. Briar had unwittingly come upon them one day, and decided to learn them because of their great potential.

Incidentally, the spell that Briar had actually used to fly was a combined succession of two spells: [Anti-Gravity] and [Levitate].

First, she had used [Anti-Gravity] to lift them high up in the sky. Then she had used [Levitate] to hold their position in the air, while relying on the force of the wind in the higher atmosphere to blow them across the raging river.

Search though she did, she had found no spells for flying that was possible for her class. It was only when she broke through to Master Class that she would be able to truly fly in the sky.

Instead, she had found the spell [Anti-Gravity]. Since she already had [Levitate], she had come up with a way to combine the two to give the appearance of flying.

The only thing was, these five spells in combination took up a lot of her mana, to the point where she was now near empty, which was why she was yawning uncontrollably.

[Tracking] on its own might not have much of a mana drain, but she had placed tracking spells on all who had tried to fight with her these past few months. The sum total of these spells had a MP drain on a level similar to the [Anti-Gravity] spell.

But, thanks to her [Tracking] spell, Briar was able to get a visual of a highly detailed map of the area, and commit it to memory. The map itself had shown hidden byways and side-paths that would bypass the problem of having to travel on the main road.

In this way, Briar had heard of her opponent’s plans straight from his own mouth, including the fact that the person in charge knew Master Thales.

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Briar’s eyes had huge bags under them, as she shook her head in an attempt to stave off the beckons of sleep. She was exhausted. She hadn’t had the time to sit and meditate to gather mana. And she had been constantly vigilant, in case of an ambush, that night.

Moreover, with all the spells she still had active, the mana drain was starting to take its toll on Briar’s state of well-being.

Briar was about to fall asleep again when she heard the leader of the pursuers begin to speak.

“What did you say?! They crossed the Piercing Rapids River? And, moreover, they flew over it on a magic tool disguised as a carpet!?”

Briar turned on [Spy] just in time to see the hand smash down on a nearby side table, shattering it into tiny splinters. She didn’t know why, but she could never get a visual on the man’s face.

“It looks like those students are more resourceful than I gave them credit for. Send your swiftest messenger hawk to ‘that person’. He’ll make sure they never even reach the border. Ah. Make sure to tell him to capture them unharmed. I don’t care about that stupid habit he has: if Thales learns that his students were injured or killed because of us, he’d probably level this whole country.”

“Yes, Master! It shall be as you have said.”

“Geez! Wake up, Laura, Helen!” Briar said, shaking them awake. “We’re going to have to make for the border as soon as possible, now that they know the direction we’re really headed in. I need you to be on lookout while I gather my strength.”

Laura woke up immediately. “I wasn’t sleeping!”

“Good, then you can keep watch while I gather some mana. We’ll be hard put to reach the border before the messenger hawk does.” Briar said, as she sat down nearby in the mana gathering pose.

In order to free up as much mana as possible, she cancelled almost all of the tracking spells she had placed during the month they had spent on the run. Then, she entered swiftly into meditation, the mana swirling near-visibly around her as she gathered it in great force, at great speed.

She had tried not to do this earlier because if the enemy had magicians in their ranks, then the disturbance in the mana was a near dead giveaway. But, seeing that their stealth had already been broken, Briar was willing to take the risk.

All the mana in the area was being drawn in, becoming so thick that it manifested as a swirling tornado of light blue clouds surrounding Briar where she sat.

Briar frowned. While it was true that the mana being drawn towards her was thick, she noticed that less than half of it was entering into her mana organ. The rest was drawn towards her magic bag, which surprised her, but she had no time to waste discovering why that was. She could only grit her teeth and gather more mana.

It had not been easy, staying one step ahead. It had taken all of her wiles and wits and talents. If she fell behind now, Briar had the feeling she would never be ahead again, that she would forever be under someone’s thumb-unable to follow her own path.

Anyone trying to restrain her freedom, trying to control her future, would be punished with failure. Anyone who got in her way or in the way of her friends would have to face her wrath.

But, this person that man had talked about, she didn’t know anything about him. His power, his skills, his class, everything was a mystery, but Briar couldn’t help but think that that man was bad news. Thus, a time of urgency was upon them.

Finally, her mana had completely recovered, and she quickly barked out a spell, compressing the air into three thin wafers.

She handed one each to Helen and Laura.

“Put these in your mouth. They’re compressed air wafers. The way that we’re travelling from now on will make it hard to breath. Also, whatever you do, don’t chew on them unless you want to die.” Briar said, placing a wafer on her tongue, before grabbing both girls around the waist and activating her true speed as a red class.

The trees and scenery flew by as Briar ran faster than a bullet train, heading for the border.

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Master Thales sat in his chair, tapping his finger on his arm impatiently as he stared out of the window. According to Thera and Laura’s original route plan, they should have arrived in town already. Every second they did not arrive made Master Thales more certain that they had run into trouble along the way.

“You don’t think that He found out about them, do you?” He asked Madam Rothema. “I mean, it’s not like those girls to be a whole week late. What if something unexpected happened to them?”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Madam Rothema said. “After all, Laura has Thera with her, right? Her greatest talent is not her ridiculous strength, but her innovative ideas. Even were she to be surrounded, I have a feeling she’d end up coming out on top, all the same. She has a sharper mind than most. Come on, stop being a worrywart and have a cup of tea, will you?” She poured another glass for herself.

“Muuu…But still…I don’t like it.” Thales frowned out the window, feeling antsier than a caged tiger. Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer and stood up. “I’m going to go for a walk. Who knows? I might meet them coming into town.” His footsteps could be heard briskly progressing down the hallway and stairs.

“My, my!” Madam Rothema sipped at her tea. “But, still, they are quite late. I wonder what’s keeping them?”

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Briar’s arms and legs were so overworked they felt like noodles. She had long outlasted her stamina, and was now only able to continue forward by reinforcing her muscles with mana, although she was now nearing her very limits.

Sweat seemed to drip out of every pore. But still, Briar pushed energy through them and advanced at high speeds. Laura and Helen had already gotten used to the stress of the high speeds they were going at. But, Laura was trying to calm her queasy stomach, while Helen had fallen asleep.

They were almost at the border. Almost there! Once they crossed it, they’d be out of this area’s jurisdiction. Then they’d be close enough to contact Master Thales and Madam Rothema, and inform them of the situation.

Briar looked up. Just ahead of them was the borderline! A tree-less area with low sparse bushes, the borderline was a kilometer wide. Once she was across that border, they would be safe!

Without pause, she rushed out into the plain-like, grassy area, almost flying across the last kilometer, the goal line in sight. Almost there!

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Master Thales had gone for more than a walk, travelling down the main street of the city. But perhaps the girls were just outside?

He meandered down that way to have a look, but they couldn’t be seen from the gate.

Maybe they were almost there? They could be just inside the forest? So, Master Thales’s feet took him farther and farther afield until he arrived at the border.

He stared at it, wondering if he should attempt to cross and look for them, when suddenly, he inhaled sharply in surprise. Out of the trees, Briar rushed headlong, carrying Laura and another child in her arms.

“We’re almost there!” Laura cried joyfully.

When Briar was almost past the border, Master Thales was about to call out a greeting, when both he and Briar sensed something out of place. One meter before she reached the edge of the border, the ground suddenly gave way.

“Aaahhh!” Laura began to scream, the feeling of falling had begun to wake Helen up.

Thales could only watch in horror as Briar, Laura, and the child she was carrying began to fall, seemingly in slow motion. As she fell, Briar’s eyes met and locked with Master Thales, and he saw a fierce determination in her eyes.

“Catch!” She yelled. Without wasting a second, she threw Laura and Helen at him, even though the force of the throw only made the speed of her descent increase as she fell backwards down into a newly-formed, deep dark fissure in the ground.

Laura turned around, and forgot everything as she shrieked. “THERAA!! NOOO!!!”

Master Thales instantly reacted, catching both Laura and the small girl in his arms, before realizing what Briar had done.

She smiled when she saw that her two charges had arrived safely.

Thank goodness…They’re safe…I’m glad…

Then closed her eyes as exhaustion took over, and she sank swiftly into the darkness of unconsciousness as she fell.

Laura stared, wide-eyed into the dark abyss that had swallowed her friend, and felt her as if her heart had been torn in two and rolled up into a ball that wadded itself in her throat. “Thera, why? Why?” She whispered, falling down on her knees in front of the cliff.

She pounded the ground in front of her. "Why did you have to go!? I'm the older sister! It should have been me!! If only I was stronger! I could have saved her! Thera!" She sobbed.

Helen, who had just woken up, sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily and asked. “Laura? Who’s Thera? And where’s Briar-sensei?” She looked around.

But Laura couldn’t answer Helen. Tears fell from Laura’s eyes as she prayed with all of her heart. Any god that can hear my prayer, please! Please let my friend be safe!

Master Thales stood there dumbly, staring at that accursed crack in the earth that had eaten his student. Then a harsh glint came into his eyes. If someone was responsible for this, they would soon wish they were never born!