I slammed my fist on my thigh upon seeing Hilde getting dragged away by Arthas knights. “God dammit!”

“There is no god,” said Lyla.

“I’m beginning to believe that, actually. How did that Hilde get captured anyway?”

“What should we do, Master?” Felix’s head popped out just above mine.

“Let me think for a second.”

The three of us were spying on the group of knights led by Richter from behind the corner of an alley. I was holding Lyla’s head, her face pointed at the enemies, to give her a better view. As creepy as that sounded, it was necessary for her to check the situation properly. Her mana sensing was not reliable from a distance.

We had accidentally encountered a group of knights while trying to find Hilde. I almost went berserk the moment I saw Hilde chained up in the middle of the group, but Felix stopped me in the nick of time. Luckily, we appeared from behind them, preventing our detection. Annie was also with the group. Her party apparently regrouped with Richter while we were sneaking around town.

I glanced at the hostage we took from the skirmish just minutes ago. He glared at me in return. From the look on his face, I was sure he wanted to shower me with curses, but the gag on his mouth prevented that.

“We can propose a prisoner exchange.”

“Are you daft, boy? Ricky will grab you the moment he sees you.”

“The Brent house is quite powerful in Arthas. He wouldn’t risk it.”

“You don’t understand your knight master at all. He’ll do anything for the mission. The Brent boy probably just tagged along against Ricky’s wishes. He’ll just make up a story about the boy dying bravely in battle after he captures you. If he had to choose between losing a Brent or a Corvider, the answer is obvious.”

“...You seem to know him well.”

“We go way back. He used to have a crush on me when he was a kid. I remember him subtly rubbing himself on me, hoping I didn’t notice his erection. Precocious brat.”

“Too much information.”

“What about a surprise attack?” asked Felix, his eyes glittering. “We can swoop in like a band of thieves and grab Hilde before they even know what hit them!”

“Calm down, Felix. You’re panting on my hair.”

Lyla snorted. “Do you two seriously think you can fight Ricky without Hilde’s help? What about the fodder around him? They may be weak, but they’re still way better fighters than Kari.”

“Do you have a better idea, all-seeing head?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“I’m all ears.”

“We get your sister to come to us. With two hostages, one a Corvider, even Ricky will have to think about negotiating. In that moment of hesitation, you can free Hilde with Ferrum or Ignis while Felix launches a surprise attack to distract them.”

“Finally a surprise attack!” shouted Felix.

“Be quiet!” I squinted to check if the knights noticed his outburst.

I knew how much Felix wanted to play the bad guy, but he really didn’t have to go so far as to copy villain slip ups. Fortunately, the knights remained oblivious and continued on their way.

“How do we get Annie to come to us?”

“...I’m still working on that part. I can show her an illusion of you and ask her to find a chance to run over to us. The problem is my range. My current form doesn’t have enough mana to send an illusion from a safe distance.”

“One of us can bring you closer. Can you use your illusions to change our appearance?”

“Not from so many people. I’d have to cast magic on all the knights, which is impossible in my current state. What about you?”

“Same here. Channeling your emotions is easy enough, but I’m still not skilled enough to properly control that spell. I can only fool one or two at most. Range isn’t much of an issue, but I can’t create detailed illusions or do multiple ones at the same time. Disguising myself to approach and then showing Annie an illusion is beyond my current abilities.”

“Looks like this plan is a bust.”

“...No, I have an idea. I’m quite sure it’ll work.”

“Now that’s my apprentice! As they say, two heads are better than one.”

“Actually, in this case, one head is more than enough.”

Lyla didn’t need the ability to read emotions to know she wasn’t gonna like what came next.

***

“You ungrateful bastard!” said Lyla.

“That’s not much of an insult because it’s completely true,” I replied.

“How dare you do this to me!?”

“There’s no other way. We don’t have time to prepare disguises for me or Felix. If we wait any longer, the knights could go back to their camp or lodging, making it impossible to rescue Hilde.”

“I’m ready, Master.” Felix held Lyla’s head, covered by a cloth bag, in front of his chest as he took aim at the group of knights.

“I’ll get back at you for this!”

“I’ll listen to your complaints after we save Hilde. Do it.”

Felix nodded and wound up for an underhand throw. With a wrist snap, he tossed Lyla forward, causing her to roll on the ground like a ball. I focused all my attention on it as it tumbled to the knights.

Channel.

Lyla’s distrust.

Target.

The rolling head.

Execute.

“Umbra!”

I turned the tumbling head into a rubber ball, a popular toy for children who play in the streets. Since I couldn’t fool many people, I only cast my magic on the two knights in the rearguard. Lyla only needed to get close enough to deliver the message, so I had asked Felix to toss her just behind the group, hoping no one would notice.

Unfortunately, the unevenly shaped head was hard to control even for the deft Felix. Lyla overshot the target and lightly hit a rearguard knights’ heel.

“Oops,” said Felix.

I slapped my forehead. “Shit.”

The knight looked down at the object. Seeing a ball rolling by his feet, he raised his head and looked around, probably searching for the owner.

I had said I didn’t believe in gods just minutes earlier, but I still pressed my hands together and prayed, “Don’t pick it up. Don’t pick it up. Don’t pick it up..!”

“Should I launch a surprise attack now!?” Felix brandished an overly excited grin.

“Stay put! Stop making things more complicated.”

The knight bent down and reached for the ball, which was actually a little girl’s head in a bag. It didn’t take a genius to know he’d realize something was wrong with just a touch.

“We’re screwed,” I mumbled as I prepared my body for battle.

Just then, the second knight in the rearguard tapped the first knight’s shoulder and said something. After nodding in reply, the first knight stood up and returned to formation, not forgetting to kick the ball away, of course.

Then two kids showed up and started kicking the ball around. I kept showing them the illusion to prevent them from opening the bag. They soon got bored because the fake ball didn’t bounce properly and left it alone.

As soon as the group of knights turned the corner, Felix and I retrieved our unwilling spy.

“I’m gonna kill you for this, boy.” The immortal witch’s scratched up face donned a glare that could terrify demons.

I had gotten used to her evil eye, so seeing her frown in her current state evoked pity instead of fear. Even I, her former enemy, didn’t like seeing her cute face banged up, but that had been the only plan I could come up with. It should be obvious by now that I’d do anything for Hilde.

“I’ll definitely make it up to you. Sorry, I can’t cast cura on you yet. Good thing you don’t bruise, right?”

“Good thing you do.”

“Leave the threats for later. Did you send the message?”

“Of course I did. As if I’d go through such humiliation a second time. Your sister easily agreed after I told her you love her the most in the world.”

“What the hell!?”

“She was suspicious about the illusion at first, but that one line turned everything around.”

“You didn’t tell her other crazy things, did you?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Lyla formed a mischievous grin. “I told her we’ll be following her group from behind, so she only needs to run the way she came when she gets the chance, which should be soon. The knights aren’t keeping a close eye on her because she just a little girl.”

“We should get ready for battle. The situation will turn into a standoff once she escapes.”

“Understood, Master.”

“There’s one problem left,” said Lyla. “Will Ricky believe you’d actually hurt your own sister to save Hilde?”

My expression turned dark, all hope drained from of it. “...I already have a plan for that.”

Lyla didn’t need to worry about getting revenge.

My turn to face the music was just around the corner.

***

We carefully tailed Annie’s group while moving from cover to cover. After a few blocks, Annie managed to inch her way to the rear of the group.

“Any minute now,” I whispered to Felix.

“Are you sure about this, Master? She might get injured.”

“Yes. It’s necessary for the bluff to work. But please, be as careful as you can.”

Annie made a break for it. She slipped between the two rearguard knights, causing them to bump into each other as they turned to catch her.

“Now!”

Like a lightning bolt, Felix jumped out of cover and sprinted towards my sister. The two knights chasing after Annie chipped away at her lead. As the closer knight extended his hand to grab Annie’s shoulder, Felix threw the weighted end his chain. The metal links wrapped around Annie’s body, arms and all, several times. With a forceful tug, Felix skillfully pulled my sister into the air and caught her in his arms.

“Apologies for the rough treatment, Lady Corvider,” said Felix with a charming smile.

Damn this guy was cool.

But don’t hit on my sister dammit.

I tapped into Annie’s fear from her sudden flight and created a wall of ice spikes between us and the knights. There were enough gaps to see the other side, but not enough for the armored knights to pass through.

“We don’t want to fight!” I shouted. “We propose a prisoner exchange!”

My eyes quickly found Hilde from beyond the barrier. Her arms and legs were tied together with rope, which was bound to a metal spear held by a knight on each end. Her inhuman treatment pissed me off, but I needed to keep calm to cast my magic accurately.

I decided to use the spear handle itself to cut the rope by changing the pole’s shape. I secretly focused my anima on Hilde, hoping to channel her iron-clad determination, an emotion ever present within her.

It was nowhere to be found.

Confusion and doubt lingered in its place.

What could’ve happened to her?

I quickly set my worries aside to formulate a plan. Ferrum would not work because of Hilde’s emotional state. In that case, I would use Ignis to melt the spear, targeting a spot near the rope binding her. The rope itself was too small and risky a target.

I didn’t even need to use my anima. I was already beyond furious just from imagining what treatment could cause Hilde to falter like this. The biggest problem was accuracy. I risked burning her hands and feet if I made a mistake. I needed time to target and control the spell with a proper chant.

“Long time no see, Kari.”

Beyond the array of frozen stalagmites, a knight in black armor approached us.

I faked an annoyed face, ignoring the guilt poking at my heart. “You found me faster than I expected, Richter.”

Dropping the title of Master was intentional. He had to believe the tale I was about to spin.

“This game of tag is over. We already have the Valmaz girl.” He pointed his thumb at Hilde. “Please come peacefully, or I’ll be forced to hurt you.”

“Are you blind, old man? I have Lucius Brent and Annabelle Corvider as hostages. I’ll kill one of them if you try anything funny.”

“Is this an act? If it is, you’re good. You’ve always been a nimble one. Except with a sword.”

“Save the chit chat. These two for the Valmaz girl. That’s a bargain if you ask me.”

“But I’m not here for those two. I’m here to hunt you and this barbarian whore down. Besides, you won’t hurt your own sister.”

“Felix.”

Felix took the scythe attached to the chain and stabbed it into Annie’s thigh. Blood trickled from the wound as my sister screamed in pain. Felix quickly gagged her with a piece of cloth.

Or so Richter thought.

All that, except the gagging part, was Lyla’s illusion. Due to her limited mana supply, she could only fool Richter at length, but that was enough in this negotiation. My spell targeting was finished. I just needed to cast the spell in the middle of a speech to prevent Richter from catching on.

“Was it always an act?” asked Richter. “Even when you were caring for the ecus?”

That question was likely a trap, a probe at the very least. It was unlikely anyone would maintain a facade when they were alone, and I was sure Richter had observed me many times in the stables without me knowing.

“No. Hilde, the girl you captured, changed my life.”

“That’s an understatement. She also killed dozens of Arthas citizens and technically kidnapped you.”

“So? She was just protecting herself. If it meant protecting her, I would’ve done even worse. Thinking back, I was the one who burned the acolytes and knights in the forest. That was very interesting to watch.”

“Seems you really are under this witch’s spell. You look like a completely different person.”

Good. It was working. The idea was to make myself appear to be under Hilde’s control, making our threats against my sister more believable. That was the only thing stopping Richter from slicing through the ice wall and charging me.

“Believe what you want. Hilde is the only thing that matters to me. I knew that from the moment I saw her eyes. Like a serene flare, a seething red stare, bonds and chains shall tear-”

“Convincing. The only problem with that story is this Hilde of yours surrendered to us because I threatened to hurt your sister. If you are under her control, she wouldn’t let you kill Annie.”

Shock flitted across my face. It was a mere instant, but Richter caught it. He drew the longsword Diablos and hacked a section of the ice wall to pieces.

“-free her wings to air! Ignis!”

The spear segments attached to the rope binding Hilde’s wrists and ankles lit red before sizzling to a brilliant white. The metal melted instantly, freeing Hilde’s limbs and dropping her towards the ground.

Like a cat, she rotated in the air and landed on the ground on all fours. Before her captors could react, she kicked the knight in front of her. Another knight, sword drawn, lunged towards her with a fierce howl. With a twisting side step, Hilde gracefully avoided the blade and threw the knight to the ground. She then impaled the downed knight with his own sword.

While casting Glacies, I hopped backward to put some distance between me and the charging Richter. A bluish white ice spike grew from my previous spot, but Richter easily crushed it to shards with one swing of his enchanted long sword. Before the crystal fragments hit the ground, Richter already had me within arm's’ reach.

His hand shot out like a spear, snapping at my neck, but before his fingers grazed my throat, he withdrew them in a flash. Glints of silver sliced through the space his wrist had occupied. A long brown scarf flitted before me, revealing bright crimson hair and dependable shoulders as it danced in the wind.

“Step back, Master.” Felix readied his dual wielded knives. “I shall handle this.”

“I’ll take care of the hostages!” I ran to Annie and Lucius as Felix faced off against Richter.

Two more knights had fallen against Hilde during that time. The rest of them had surrounded her and taken up defensive stances. Their shields were raised side by side like prison pillars as they slowly shrank the encirclement’s circumference.

There was no point in Hilde defeating them. Our goal was to escape with everyone in our party. To do that, I needed to give Hilde a chance to regroup with us. Even Richter would be hard-pressed to fight all three and one-sixth of us, especially with two hostages. He’d probably let us go or even call for a retreat.

“Felix, buy me some time!” I began weaving my next spell, channeling Hilde’s now more stable emotions.

“Understood!”

“No thing of substance is immune to rot. For nature seeks endings, resist for naught.” I glanced over to Hilde. “Attack the knights in front of you!” Seeing her nod in acknowledgement, I executed my magic. ”Ferrugo!”

The knights’ shields began rusting at an amazing speed, almost crumbling under their own weights. Before they totally disintegrated, Hilde cleaved through them and slammed her sword into the knights’ helmets in succession. Two armored bodies fell to the ground with a series of dull clanks.

Although my inexperience might make it seem otherwise, specific emotions were not limited to a single spell. Ferrugo was a different application of Hilde’s ironclad determination. The spell took advantage of metal’s natural tendency to rust to minimize mana usage and increase coverage. I owed Lyla’s insanely strict lessons for allowing me to learn it so quickly, compared to the weeks I spent learning a single spell by self-study. I had cast inferior copies of enemy spells in the heat of battle, but that was mostly due to survival instinct. Lyla had commented I learned faster in actual combat than practice, something I noticed myself in the past few weeks.

While making a mental note to thank the severed head for the training, I focused my attention on the ice spikes I had created earlier.

I tapped into Lyla’s constant spring of seething resentment and unleashed it on the ice wall. The target was huge, and output control was irrelevant, so I skipped straight to execution.

I raised my hand towards the damaged white wall. “Simia!!!”

Air shimmered between my palm and the wall. Unlike Lyla, I didn’t have enough mana nor mastery of the spell to endlessly shoot it like a barrage of arrows, but I still managed to melt a good chunk of the barrier, producing clouds of steam in the process. Hilde instantly understood my intent and dashed to the wall.

I glanced at my bodyguard to plan what I should do next. Felix had sustained several cuts, the one on his flank rather deep, from his clashes with Richter. The aspiring thief was by no means the inferior fighter, but Richter’s enchanted armaments gave him an insurmountable advantage.

I switched gears and focused on supporting Felix. “Glacies!”

Dozens of thin ice spikes sprouted from the ground and assaulted Richter. I didn’t want to hurt him, but if I held back in the slightest, he would easily fend off my attack, or worse, use them to his advantage.

Fortunately, Felix kept his long sword occupied, rendering him unable to slash the ice spikes away. Richter slid out of my spell’s reach using his enchanted boots. In that moment, Hilde jumped through the hole I created in the ice wall and attacked Richter’s flank. By manipulating his sword’s weight, Richter rotated the blade quicker than a knife and swatted her attack away. Hilde used the force of the clash to spin around and kick his calf. Richter didn’t defend against it, thinking that his armor would render the blow meaningless, but Hilde’s superhuman strength caused him to stagger for a moment.

“Get over here, now!” I shouted.

Hilde followed my command without hesitation. Richter rallied his knights while we regrouped around the hostages.

“What do we do now, Master?”

I clicked my tongue. Prioritizing stealth, we had left Sabre in a deserted alley while tracking the group of knights. We didn’t have a way to escape with the hostages. Carrying them around would greatly slow us down, and that was lethal in a pursuit.

But that was okay.

Putting Lucius aside, I never intended to bring Annie along in the first place. It was my fault that she had been exposed to so much danger already. If what Richter said earlier was true, he had taken my sister hostage to capture Hilde. It was a disgusting tactic, not that I was any better in that regard, but the most sickening part about that was its repeatability.

As long as our pursuers believed I deeply cared about my sister, she would always be a valuable tool to them. I needed to end that. Annie shouldn’t be exposed to danger any more than this. As her big brother and the one who shook up her life, fixing that was my responsibility.

I faked a maniacal smile. “The tables have turned, Richter.”

Richter lowered his sword. “You should’ve studied magic, not swordsmanship. You’d be one of the best acolytes in Arthas with your skills.”

“You know why I couldn’t do that. My life as a Corvider would’ve ended the moment I revealed my magic. Everyone knows the Corvider line doesn’t have cor, as ironic as that sounds. Not that it matters now. Who’d want to stay in that hellhole anyway? There’s nothing for me there.”

“Your family is there. Your mother wants you back, and your sister went all this way to find you.”

“Family? I don’t have family.”

A searing pain assailed my chest. It resonated from Annie, who was certainly shedding tears right now. I didn’t look. I couldn’t. I had to be scum.

I used the agony to paint my face with utter disdain. “Annie treated me like trash in front of others while faking affection for me in private, and my whore of a mother only wants to use me in her pursuit of power. Compared to those bitches, my comrades are much more important.”

Lyla continued to show Richter the illusion of a bleeding Annie, which made my acting all the more believable.

“...I see. Now I understand why that barbarian girl instantly obeyed your orders in this battle. She never had control over you. It was the other way around. You who used her to escape Arthas. When she surrendered to us in order to protect Annabelle, she likely thought you didn’t want your sister to get hurt. I guess even a Valmaz whore didn’t think you were rotten enough to sacrifice family like sheep. She was fooled, just like I was.”

“Save your mind games. Hilde won’t budge from crap like that. We’re partners, right?” I glanced at her with a smile.

Please read the mood. Please read the mood. Please read the mood.

Hilde nodded naturally.

I honestly didn’t expect that. After thanking my rare good fortune, I continued negotiations. All that was left was to hammer down the final nail in the coffin.

“Let us go. Then you can have the hostages. They’ll be freed once we’re a good distance away from the city.”

“No deal. There’s no guarantee you won’t just kill them after escaping. Besides, my orders were to bring you back and get rid of the Valmaz girl. Lucius’s death can be excused as an honorable one in combat, and Annabelle, well, no one aside from me and my troops even know she’s here.”

I tried reading his emotions. His almost indifferent calm terrified me. I didn’t know if he simply didn’t care about the hostages’ lives or the whole affair entirely. One thing was for sure. It was impossible to determine whether he was bluffing or not. The diabolical glint in his eyes certainly suggested he wasn’t.

He wasn’t going to let us go no matter what. After clicking my tongue, I wracked my brain for a solution.

“Use the other spell I taught you,” said Lyla using an illusion that materialized beside me. Her real body, which ironically had no body, was still hidden behind cover.

“But I don’t have any emotion to channel for it.”

“Do I have to tell you everything, boy? I can’t keep multitasking for long.”

No, she didn’t. I knew what I had to do. Moreover, if I steeled my heart, I could kill two birds with one stone.

I gulped down the saliva building up in my mouth and braced myself for what I was about to do. It was something I could never take back, but I had no choice, for both our sakes.

I held out my hand as Richter took a step forward. “Wait.” During the pause, I turned to Felix. “Unchain Annie and give her to me.”

“...Master?”

“Just do it.”

Felix unfurled the ropes around Annie’s body and gently pushed her to me. I forcefully wrapped my arm around her neck and pressed her back against my chest, stopping her from moving. I didn’t remove the gag. Hearing her voice would dull my resolve.

Each tear rolling down her face and onto my arm felt like scorching metal rods stabbing into my flesh. It wasn’t just because of my anima. My own rampaging emotions mingled with Annie’s channeled suffering, threatening to burn me from the inside.

“Maybe you’ll believe me with this.” I grabbed Annie’s collar and tore the front of her shirt with all my might, exposing her pale budding mounds to the knights.

Lucius howled in fury through his gag, releasing a cry reminiscent of a dying beast.

Richter frowned for the first time since we had reunited. “How far you’ve fallen…”

I completely agreed. To a young lady, exposing her skin was akin to losing her dignity. And I did that to my own sister. I wanted to die.

But I couldn’t. I had made my decision.

Hate me, sister. Hate me. Then be free.

Annie stopped crying. She simply turned towards me with a look of sheer wonder, as if seeing me for the first time. Breathing became excruciating, so I stopped. Things were about to end in a few seconds anyway. The first bird had fallen, its wings crushed by my own hands. Now for the other. Let the stone fly.

Richter raised his sword and took a stance, ready to dash towards us any second. But I didn’t care. I quietly closed my eyes and focused my mind.

Channel.

My sister’s unbearable humiliation.

Target.

My entire party.

Weave.

“Turn truth into lies. Away from prying eyes.” I released my sister’s neck and pushed her in the charging Richter’s way, delaying him slightly.

Execute.

I grabbed Hilde’s hand. “Indispectus!”

My entire party disappeared from view. Even I couldn’t see any of us, myself included. Indispectus was another of Lyla’s lessons, an invisibility spell that fed on shame. Now all we had to do was escape before I ran out of mana.

“Felix, grab the head and run away! Let’s meet up where Sabre is later!” I pulled Hilde away from the bewildered knights as fast as I could.

Richter didn’t give chase and promptly covered my sister’s trembling body with a blanket from his saddle. It seemed I lost the bluff war. He never intended to hurt my sister when he took her hostage against Hilde. Richter was a knight, after all. Completely different from trash like me.

Escaping was a breeze due to our invisibility. The knights didn’t know which direction to go, so we easily left the area unperturbed. I kept Hilde’s hand tightly wrapped in mine to prevent us from getting separated. After we reached a quiet corner, Hilde lightly tugged at my hand. I interpreted that as a sign to stop, so I did.

“What’s wrong?”

“...How could you do that to your sister?”

I couldn’t see her face, but shame washed over me from those words alone. A torrent of fury followed.

“How could I? Really? You’re really asking that?” Spite dripped from each word.

I wanted to grab her shoulders and scream at her from the top of my lungs. It was her fault. I wouldn’t need to hurt Annie like that if I never met Hilde. And yet she dared to ask me why.

Annie’s blank expression, riddled by tears, flashed in my mind.

That made me realize the truth.

Hilde had nothing to do with this.

This was all my fault.

“Don’t you care about her? She seems to care about you a lot.”

“I know that!” My grip on Hilde’s hand tightened. “Do you think I want it to end this way!? I made a choice, Hilde! Because of that, she got dragged into all this!” Once I removed the lid over my heart, everything poured out. “I had no choice but to cut all ties with her, to make her hate me, to pretend that I didn’t give a shit about her! What else would you have me do!?”

“She seemed... very hurt.”

“Of course she was! She trusted me, and I betrayed her. I shamed her in front of those men! But I had to. It was the only way she’d let me go. It was the only way the knights would let her go! Do you enjoy torturing me by stating the obvious!?”

“No, I-”

My voice shook, as did my clouded vision. “I just wanted her safe… Can you blame me for that..?”

I unconsciously put more strength into my right hand, which was still connected to Hilde. She didn’t pull away.

“I can’t blame you. And I won’t.” Her grip strengthened enormously, forcing me to fight back with all my might. She was much stronger, so even with all my power, I couldn’t hurt her. She maintained our strange struggle until I lost strength. Feeling my knees about to give out, I leaned my back on a nearby wall.

After letting my anger loose on Hilde’s hand, the cloying magma covering my heart gradually cooled. My fingers lost power and began slipping from hers. Before our skin parted, she caught my hand and enclosed it gently.

“I’m sorry, Kari,” she whispered. “I said too much. Even though this is all my fault... My blood’s fault. Please don’t cry.”

Oh, right.

I was crying.

Sniveling in front of the girl I loved. Miserably too. And I couldn’t stop.

Then again, she couldn’t see the tears anyway. Thinking that, I let everything out. Hilde held my hand the entire time. Her reason for doing so I didn’t know, but I wished it went beyond losing track of the invisible me.

***

“Your eyes are red, Master. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, don’t mind me. Something just got into my eyes.” I pretended to rub my eyelids in annoyance. “Where did you get the horse?”

“I bought it from a merchant. Violetta and I came upon his four-horse carriage while he was busy negotiating with a shop owner. I offered to buy one. The man drove a hard bargain, I tell you! But circumstances being what they are, I reluctantly parted with a good portion of my coins.”

“Uh, didn’t it occur to you to simply steal the horse while the merchant was busy? That would’ve been very thief-like too.”

“Tarnation!” Felix grabbed his fiery red hair.

I had dispelled our invisibility after arriving at the meeting spot, where Sabre impatiently waited. She had bonked my forehead with her nose as punishment for worrying her. I had happily stroked her golden mane in revenge.

“So, where to?” asked Lyla, who lay in a bag strapped to Sabre’s saddle.

“First, we need to leave the city. Felix can lead us to possible exits, and I’ll find a way out while avoiding soldiers. I’ll use my anima to sense any concentrations of animosity and vigilance. We still have the map of the region, so we can just pick a destination after we get out of the city walls.”

“A sound plan.”

“Let’s get to it then.” I climbed up Sabre and held my hand out to Hilde.

She took it and mounted behind me. The warmth of her body slightly eased the hollowness pervading my core. I felt tempted to lean backward to feel more of it but reconsidered. Pushing my luck was a bad habit of mine, and now was a good time to start fixing that.

We followed Felix’s lead while taking care not to gather attention. By taking alleyways and avoiding crowds, we managed to make our way to an exit devoid of Arthas knights after skipping two guarded ones.

As we crossed the small gate, Lyla manifested in her full form, riding Sabre in front of me. Naturally, it was just an illusion. I appeared to be sandwiched by two beautiful girls, a situation that would make any man jealous, but I couldn’t enjoy it at the moment.

“Don’t take it to heart, boy.”

“Now I’m getting consoled by a decapitated head. This is the pits.”

“You look devastated enough to warrant me getting off my gaping neck wound and saying a few words.”

“That bad, huh?”

“You did the right thing.”

“Right? I shamed my sister to escape capture. How can something so cruel be right?”

“Necessity. And love.”

“...Hm.”