“Your aunt will be alright… right? I mean, she is facing a pack of wolves,” Isabella said with concern.

Markus frowned as he looked at Isabella, who was trailing rather close beside him. Stepping away, he frowned as Isabella matched his pace.

“... Aunt Paige will be fine. It’s just a pack of wolves,” Markus lied as he idly scanned his surroundings. He wondered what brought about her questions, as Isabella usually shied away from him and Tyler.

“You don’t have to lie about it. My aunt and Lily have already said to be on the lookout for bandits.”

Markus twitched as he quickly turned to face her, but not before Isabella moved in closer to grab his arm.

“Just act normal, Markus. No one else can hear our conversation. Lily is already coordinating with everyone else.”

Looking toward Lily, he watched her for a second as she walked hand in hand with Nimi and Claire and noticed the odd glow of the ring on her left hand.

‘Tch, Aunt Zenith is just as bad as Aunt Paige! How come they get enchanted accessories, and all I get is some crappy leather armor and a sword!’ Markus calmed down and accepted the grim reality of being the unfavored child of the group. “It looks like Aunt Zenith was really generous. Were both of your rings etched with a Silence spell?”

Markus could feel Isabella shaking her head subtly.

“I don’t know. Miss Paige slipped it on both of our hands when she helped us up just now. Lily recognized the bell message and wanted to get your thoughts on what to do. My aunt told me to get ready for a fight, though.”

Markus thought quickly. “How far is the range for the ring?”

“My aunt said a few feet.”

Turning backward, he blinked as Isabella’s aunt smiled and nodded. "Hm.”

‘... a muffling spell then, not true [[Silence]]. I guess that would look more natural at a distance.’ His thoughts spun as Lily looked back at him and mouthed her idea.

Parsing through her plan, he nodded as he reviewed his thoughts. With the sun visibly falling, it was only a matter of time before he could use his mana to hide their location, in which Lily could then quickly set up a Concealment formation. He watched as the team in front of him slowly started to coordinate.

Tyler was already blocking the line of sight in front, using his tower shield as a pretend crutch. Lily was holding onto Claire’s shield as the girl cautiously removed some straps, revealing a small, metal bow hidden that was once a part of her shield. Nimi herself was holding onto Lily’s staff as she held her wand tight in her hand.

All in all, it was a pretty good plan overall if the enemy was in front of them, which made him wonder if someone had helped Lily think of it. Or maybe he just hadn’t realized how much Lily had learned these last few years.

The only thing they couldn’t plan for was Shavie though, Markus realized. But that too had already been taken care of.

Without turning, he could already tell that Shavie was slowing down. It hadn’t escaped his notice that her gait was changing, her movements now lighter and her presence even thinner. Even this close to her, he was starting to lose track of her position.

‘Something was wrong,’ Markus realized.

Shuddering, his training took over as his mana seeped outward, as he channeled his senses, his mind marking her last position as he continued moving forward. Her presence gradually focused, though whether it was solely from his training he didn’t know.

‘... I know she claimed to be a Bodyguard, but … she moves like…’ His mind sharpened. Shavie was moving like the Trent Scout he had encountered back in the forest.

He looked toward Isabella warily as she smiled by his side. Both of their families had secrets. But how much did Isabella know, or even wonder?

Isabella tilted her head. “Markus?”

“We need to move closer to Lily,” Markus said as he pulled Isabella closer to the rest of the party. “My aunt said that a [[Concealment]] formation isn’t a cut and dry solution against people stronger than us, Lily. A single attack is able to neutralize the formation, not to mention that we would be stuck in a confined area.”

Lily nodded as she acknowledged his thoughts. “It’s better than nothing though, Markus. And it gives us a slight element of surprise. Tyler can defend against physical ranged attacks, and I’ll take care of defending against magical attacks.”

Tyler looked back and whispered, “You aren’t the only one who learned a few things, Markus. The only thing we haven’t quite found a solution for is a reliable distraction.”

And that was where [[Dark Mist]] would come into play, Markus knew. And probably why Isabella was so close to him and Shavie so far away. The wind shifted, and he could already feel the ambient dark mana slowly gathering around the three of them; their natural affinities at work.

Isabella’s aunt must have backed away to give them access to the ambient mana without having to compete with them. Lily too must have started focusing, since there was a steady breeze around them now.

“... Tell me when, Lily.”

“At the base of the hill,” Lily responded.

Markus eyed the low hill coming into view and nodded. At least she had the sense not to say the top of the hill.

You’d have to be blind not to notice that was the best spot for an ambush.

Shavie smiled ruefully from behind as the kids planned for battle.

They had the right idea, but only if their opponents were around the same level as them. Sure, their ingenuity was refreshing, and their coordination was passable, but there were so many holes in their plan that she was tempted to call off their ‘training’.

This was as likely to get them killed as it was to help them grow. Which, Shavie realized after a moment of thought, was exactly the point.

Shavie knew she had to fix their sense of danger. Between powerful mentors, strong bodyguards, and useless fights against monsters, she could already see that their mentality was going to get them killed as soon as their protectors were gone.

Of course, removing one or two of the kids would also be ideal for Isabella’s growth. Loss was a powerful tool for growing up. And though Shavie was loath to admit it, losing her own childhood friends was a key motivator for growth.

Looking toward the east, she could already feel six sets of eyes on the kids, with only one pair tracking her movements. It vexed her not being able to shake off the last set of eyes, especially at such a distance.

‘Damn, I must be slipping if they can still sense me. Gotta work more on that.’ Shavie scoffed as the mist started to come into her field of view as she started to release more of her mana. Grumbling to herself, she altered her gait and slowly lowered her mana output. The mist around her gradually vanished from view as her mana use dipped to non-existent levels.

The so-called ‘Mana dispersion mist’, if she could take Zenith’s word’s as the truth. She’d had rather chosen words for the mist herself, and after filtering through them, the words biased ran high on the list.

True, they were able to leave the city without fear of death, but the mist just had to follow them and limit them. She could still use her Skills, but with a hard limit. And though the mist passed readily through Paige and her party, the noticeable exclusion was Markus, though she did note that the mist did take longer to pass through him than others. Something to keep an eye on, even if nothing came out of it in the end.

Sensing the ambient mana flowing unnaturally, Shavie blinked in surprise as she noticed Markus’s slight movements. This close to him, Shavie felt the mana within his body condense as he got ready to unleash a spell. Deliberate control over the mana within his body, one of the few tells of a Mage.

‘Markus could hardly control [[Dark Blade]] before. At least he got one of his regrets fixed in all this mess,’ Shavie thought.

Only she knew just how much Markus had wanted to be a spell casting swordsman, a dream he once told her while he was drunk.

‘I’ll be one of the few Dual Swordsman! And then I’ll mop the floor with my old man’s face and liberate the western isles!’

Of course, his drunken boasting had immediately backfired on him the next day, but his ambition and drive to be better had stuck with her a long time thereafter.

Nostalgia aside, she paused her steps as she got ready to make her own move. Looking beyond the hilltop, Shavie marked her target’s location and made a split decision. Six fake High Class opponents were a tad too many for them to handle on their own.

‘...one. One would be enough for them to practice on. Shavie, you are just so charitable these days,’ she thought happily as Markus used his Spell.

Reaching for the hidden daggers on her legs, her eyes reflected the growing dark cloud in front of her. It was time to hunt.

“[Shadow Sprint].”

_______________

“[[Dark Mist]]!”

Markus thought internally as he released his mana outward. A dark cloud spread around them as his mana churned, and he rushed to complete his part. Markus could already see a faint glow on the ground as Lily raced to etch the necessary symbols around them.

The world spun around him as his mana dipped low within his core. The world was dark to his eyes, yet he could still sense the rest of his team’s location. Isabella especially, for some reason. It must have been because of their matching affinities, he realized.

The ambient mana around them stopped moving as Lily finished the formation, and Markus knew his part was completed. Gasping for breath, he held his hand up as he focused on his own recovery. He needed to condense the surrounding mana back into his core before he fainted. Time was of the essence, he knew; otherwise they would be blind inside the formation as well. As the mist evaporated around them, he could tell that most everyone was in a defensive position, looking out warily across the field. Claire and Nimi were hesitant though, and he could tell that they were nervous about being inside of a formation.

Lily was sitting down as she breathed heavily, and Markus could tell that she was trying to rapidly recover her mana. Both of them had gone through his aunt’s so-called ‘Adventurer survival lessons’, so he knew that Lily had recognized the warning bells. She had to have known that she was under watch and would be unable to gather the ambient mana. And without the ambient mana sustaining her spell, Markus knew that Lily would have to be efficient with the rest of her mana on the one defensive spell. Standing up, she motioned everyone to gather close.

Gathering around Lily, Markus sunk into his go-to defensive posture as Tyler and Claire positioned themselves on opposite sides of Lily. Nimi stepped beside Markus as she watched warily, a flicker of flame dancing around her wand.

Isabella was the odd one out though. Instead of settling into a defensive stance, she stepped behind Lily and hugged her tight. Markus wondered why for just a moment and then realized why Isabella had done so. The remaining dark mana around them was transforming into wind mana, albeit at a high conversion rate. His mind whirled into action as he remembered his aunt’s lessons on affinities.

‘How many affinities does Isabella have?’ he wondered. ‘She’s a Cleric, so right off the bat she has affinities toward healing, probably light as well…. darkness too, since her family has it… and now wind? Didn't Aunt Zenith say something about conflicting attributes?'

Lily nodded toward Tyler as she shifted her stance and started mouthing her Spell. Taking a moment to watch, Markus read her lips and identified the spell, his eyebrows raising in surprise.

‘[[Wind Prison]]. No wonder she was confident,’ Markus thought.

He still remembered his Aunt Zenith trapping and battling Paige when she was furious. He would give almost anything to be able to have that stopping power. Well, almost anything, since close combat took precedence over all. His aunt had been able to block spells with a basic hoe, which spoke volumes on why physical skill was on par with magical abilities.

Wiping the sweat off his brows, Markus focused on the surroundings as he imagined Lily’s rhythmic chanting. Even without hearing her speak, he could feel the mana accumulating rapidly behind him, a prickling sensation of power that made him nervous. The mist outside the formation had started to evaporate, since he could no longer control the mana outside of the formation. One of the many flaws of [[Concealment]] he had been taught. It was the perfect tool for Scouts and ambushes, but one that relied on ample preparation and lack of surveillance to pull off.

He quietly tch’ed as Lily's spell grew, a jealous look in his eyes. Looking around, his eyes locked gazes with Nimi, whose hazel eyes also were wrought with jealousy. Turning away, he realized that it was natural for most Mages to be jealous of Lily and Isabella’s natural talent. As far as he could tell, Nimi barely had a lesser affinity toward fire.

As he surveyed his surroundings, it took him a scant minute before he realized something was wrong.

“...when did Miss Shavie disappear?” Markus whispered lightly. It was a risk, talking aloud within the concealment formation, but he deemed it appropriate.

Tyler glanced backwards, his voice tense. “Shh. Don’t worry about her. Keep watch.”

Claire looked around before speaking up. “Why are w-”

Markus stepped sideways and clamped his hand around Claire’s mouth, though the damage was already done. His eyes scanned the horizon as Claire struggled to pull his hand away.

“It’s fine Markus, my ring is still active,” Isabella whispered.

Looking back, Markus realized that Isabella was right, her ring was still shining, though it was rapidly dimming. Lily too, for she had finished her spell and was looking at him with a very annoyed expression.

He could practically read Lily's thoughts as he recognized the look on her face. It was a splitting image off his Aunt Zenith’s annoyed look.

‘It was your fault she started talking, Markus.’

He winced and shrugged his shoulders.

‘Okay, so I did talk beforehand. But I whispered!’

Giving Claire a dark look, he removed his hand from Claire’s smooth face and wiped his hand on his leather armor, removing the moisture on his leather gloves.

“This magic circle is meant for stealth, but it doesn’t block out sound. And we have to be careful when we deactivate it too. Keep quiet,’ Markus whispered lightly, and put his finger on his lips and pointed at Isabella’s ring, which had finally dimmed.

Claire’s eyes swirled with a wrongful expression, and Markus looked away before he could feel guilty about his actions.

The tense atmosphere lasted for a minute, two, then ten as… nothing happened. The wind slowed around them as Lily regulated her mana. Just enough to give them a defensive edge, but not enough to use as a counter attack.

The sun was almost below the horizon when Markus finally felt something and turned. His view turned green for a moment before his sword arched to his side to parry a dagger in the air, the serrated edge cutting light into Nimi's side as she dodged behind him.

Markus watched in slow motion as Claire ducked away from her own shield, the dagger’s hilt caught on the shield as it protected Claire. Tyler too, though his shield flashed briefly as the symbols etched deep within it activated.

The underpowered formation shattered around them. The ambient mana was no longer prohibited by the formation from reaching them, and the wind picked up as Lily focused her mana.

Gathering his errant thoughts, he eyed the dagger lodged in Claire’s shield. Paige’s words flowed in his mind as he reviewed the weapon and thought back to his lessons on geographical differences of weapons.

‘Serrated long dagger; southern style blade edge with two blood grooves on each side. Typical use is to bleed out an enemy or to deliver poison within the grooves directly to wounds. In essence, used only by a few Classes,’

“Thief! Or a specialized Hunter!” Markus yelled as he looked upwards toward the hilltop. A lone man in black stood there, his gaze chilling his body as he looked into his eyes. The man was looking at him as though he was unworthy of his notice.

As though he was dead. He could see his party freezing in terror and knew he had to do something.

Markus bit his tongue as he reached for his belt and pulled out a small bone whistle. The sharp screech of the whistle grated on his nerves, though he sighed in relief as his party shook themselves out of their stupor from the harsh sound.

He reached back with his arm and pulled Nimi in closer to the party and shoved her toward Isabella, who had already noticed the blood and was shifting through her pouch for something.

Markus moved forward and stood beside Tyler, whose eyes never left the enemy above.

“Thanks for the assist, Markus,” Tyler said.

Markus nodded, his sword resting lightly on his shoulder. “No problem. He didn’t aim at me. Nor did he use a Skill, from what I can tell.”

Markus jumped as Lily yelled from behind, “You are attacking students of Alduit Academy. Cease and desist your actions, or we will be forced to defend ourselves!”

“Pretty sure he knows that, Lily. It’s hard to miss the uniforms,” Markus murmured.

“Buying time. Nimi is poisoned. Isabella is applying a general antidote now.”

He cursed quietly. If he had been a tad faster, or not distracted by the flash of Lily’s shield, he would have parried the dagger!

“We need to fight, Lily. He’s aiming to kill us,” Tyler said quietly.

Markus agreed with him on that. The man was clearly gauging his next moves, his body swaying as he moved forward. But it was the man’s eyes that stuck with Markus.

He had seen that look before in the forest.

It was kill or be killed now.

Watching his opponents, the wounded man swallowed back the blood in his mouth as his attack failed to kill anyone.

Though his clothes hid it well, he could tell that he was starting to lose too much blood. A… consequence he had to put up with now, at least until he killed one person that is.

‘Damn it all! The intel we got was wrong,” he hatefully thought. ‘...One Farmer and Bodyguard, four children with Mage and Warrior Classes. No Specializations of note.’

And now his whole Party lay dead behind him, killed by a simple ‘Bodyguard’.

‘Imperial politics. And they had the gall to put me under oath for this job!’

His mind was in a haze as his hate soared beyond normal means, and his blood boiled in response. He already knew what he was going to do. Kill them all, and offer their lives to his fallen comrades, and only then w-.

His body twitched imperceptibly as his mana core shuddered within him.

‘Keep the black and silver haired ones alive,’ a voice in his mind whispered.

Swaying lightly from the blood loss, he knew he had to end it quickly.

“Dodge left!” Tyler screamed.

Markus pivoted his foot and dodged left, trusting in Tyler’s judgement. It was a close call too, as the sharp hiss of a crossbow bolt flashed past his face. “Hunter type!”

“Three crossbows loaded, max! He shouldn’t have any more!” Claire cried as she dropped her shield and tried to dislodge the dagger.

Markus cursed at the sight. Of all the things Claire could have done, she chose to drop her shield!?

Shoving Claire behind him, he stomped on the tip of the shield to force it upwards and ducked behind as another dagger embedded itself more inches from his face.

“For god's sake, Claire! Shoot back!” Markus yelled as he grabbed the edges of the shield and planted it heavily into the ground.

Markus staggered as Claire ran into him from behind.

“His daggers move almost three times faster than my arrows, Markus! And the daggers are in line with my handles! I can’t even hold it up right now!” Claire said. Banging her hands on a few places, Markus watched as two metal poles detached from the backing and watched as Claire planted them into the ground.

Markus had the urge to hit her as the steel poles dug themselves into the ground. She transformed her shield into an immobile steel wall. Against an opponent whose specialty was most likely based around speed, stealth and range.

“Tyler, location!” Markus shouted.

“North, northeast! Angling southeast!” Tyler responded.

“Need an opening! Claire, you better cover me!”

Not bothering to listen to her reply, Markus waited until Tyler shouted before he ran around the shield, confident that he would be safe. Tyler was many things, but Markus learned quickly what Tyler had been working on while at school. Situational awareness, defensive measures, counterattacks and more; it was clear that while his offensive capabilities were rather lacking, his defensive skills more than made up for it.

Edging his way forward, he sidestepped out to find his opponent. Sighting his opponent, Markus placed his hand on the flat of his sword and flicked it forward. “[[Dark Blade]], [[Blade Slash]]!”

A thin shadow arced across the open field, and to his dismay the enemy simply ran through it. Markus cursed as he looked at the shattered remains of his attack.

‘Aunt Paige did say doing that was more of a gimmick spell than an actual attack, but still!’

The man was angling to his left as he ran down the small hill, and Markus realized why. He was wary of Claire and had elected to use their own party as a shield.

“Moving up!” Markus screamed.

“Markus, no!” “Get back!” Lily and Tyler yelled.

“Let the sword reflect the setting sun, [[Fireblade Enchantment]]!” Nimi cried.

A sudden bloom of heat erupted next to him, and Markus adjusted his posture to account for the flaming sword in his hand, taking great care to keep it away from his leather armor. That was another irritation to deal with post-battle. Against someone their age, maybe a flaming sword would intimidate someone, but against a hardened killer? Unlikely.

‘Why on earth would she think a flaming sword is a good idea? The most it’ll do is cauterize the flesh after I wound him.’

Swearing to teach his new teammates some common sense after the battle, Markus pushed forward to intercept and hoped Lily would give some actual long range support.

Sixty, fifty, forty feet. The space between them was steadily decreasing, and Markus sensed something wasn’t right. The man was outright ignoring him and was flicking daggers at the rest of his team, even as he moved forward. That wasn’t normal by any means.

The headwind slowed him down as Lily gathered it for an attack. The flames on his sword were starting to disperse from the wind, though he could tell from the sword handle that the sword was still burning. He prayed to every god he could think of and hoped that his sword wasn’t too brittle from the heat.

Thirty feet away, Markus finally heard Lily call out from behind. “[[Wind Slash]]!”

He could hear the wind moving towards him. Markus angled away, giving Lily a clearer view of the man in front of him for her Spell. Not technically necessary, since Lily had great control of her Spell, but since the man was ignoring him anyways, Markus reasoned that he should get in a good position for a follow up attack.

The grin on Markus’s face stiffened as the man’s gait widened slightly. That looked -

The man instantly shifted from his location to directly in front of Markus as he raised his dagger.

‘He knows [Blink]! Shit!’

Markus knew he was in deep trouble. Swinging his sword diagonally, Markus’s eyes widened as he focused on the man’s hands. So long as he could parry the da-

The dark cloaked man’s hand shot forward, the gloves on his hands screeching as steel met steel. Blood ran down his blade as Markus’s weapon cut through the back of his opponent’s glove, though Markus realized too late that he needed to disengage.

The hand held tight to Markus’s wrist as the man abruptly pulled him, and Markus kicked off the ground as his enemy changed places with him.

Markus’s mind slowed down. He could hear the hiss of Lily’s attack coming directly at him. Saw the man’s pained gaze as he spun him, while flicking a dagger from his waist towards Lily.

The man staggered and loosened his grip as a bloom of light impacted his back, and Markus was freed. Curling up into a ball, Markus realized as he tumbled through the air that Lily had altered her attack, though he knew it was at a great cost.

Rolling to his feet, Markus noted that Tyler had also moved up to intercept, while Claire and Nimi were being useful now too.

The enemy slowed as he now had to deal with a somewhat coordinated party. His movements were well coordinated and planned; a half step to the side to dodge Claire's arrow; a single flick of his wrist to disperse an errant [[Fireball]], all the while flicking his other wrist at Lily and Isabella to distract Tyler, who had to adjust his position as he initiated close combat.

“[Shield Bash]!”

The tower shield flashed as he struck the cloaked man, but Tyler grunted in pain as he was forced back with a simple shoulder check. Markus realized what had happened and cursed. He had the same problem when using Skills against his aunt. The difference in mana density between the two of them was causing Tyler's Skill to lose faulter.

Tyler struggled to regain his balance as the man unfurled a chain on his arm. With a flick, the chain snagged Tyler’s foot.

Markus moved forward. He had to stop the man from knocking Tyler off his feet. But he knew he was going to be too late. He watched with mounting horror as the man shoulder checked the shield again and pulled the chain. Tyler fell backwards. In a flash, the man stepped on the shield and waved his arm down. A serrated sword impaled itself to the hilt and Tyler stopped moving below.

“Damn you!” Markus screamed.

The man sidestepped away as his attack missed. A flash of metal flickered toward Lily, and Markus tracked it with dread.

Lily was staring at Tyler on the ground, her eyes not focused on the battle.

Isabella screamed as she tackled Lily to the ground; the dagger following their motion.

He had to do something! Markus stiffened slightly as he heard a grunt and watched as the dagger spun out of control and landed far away from the falling duo.

Pivoting his foot, Markus spun around and savagely slashed the man’s chest. As the metal sword tore into his opponent, Markus realized that the man had hardly put up any resistance that time, and blinked in confusion as he felt the blood hit his face. Why hadn’t he dodged? Standing still wasn’t a typical reaction from getting slashed through.

Markus felt a sharp prick at his side as his own sword caught on the man’s ribs, and having learned his lesson, he moved to disengage, right before an arrow caught the man in the lungs, while a bloom of blue light tore the man in half at the waist.

Markus stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, staring at the body in confusion. Lily and Isabella’s panicked cries filled his ears.

The battle was over, just like that.

_________________________

Markus laid on the ground and stared up at the darkening sky. Chewing on a herbal paste, his body churned as the medicine slowly neutralized the poison, though his mind was wandering as the battle rush faded away.

Bandaging his sides by himself, he chose guard duty as everyone kept Tyler still as Isabella attempted to heal his wounds. It was plain luck that the sword had struck deep into Tyler’s side instead of his chest, and Isabella’s face was pale as she tried to heal around the sword. The serrated edges of the sword was causing Isabella to hesitate. Markus knew that Isabella would have to pull the sword out of him, else he was going to die of shock than blood loss.

A slight rustle of the bushes on the side of the road woke him from his stupor, and he grabbed the closest weapon he could find as he rolled himself upwards into a defensive position. The enemy’s dagger held tight within his grasp, he moved to cover his team behind him.

The bushes shook as Shavie stepped out from within it.

“Good job kids! Great teamwork,” she said happily.

Lily groaned as she dropped her wand, her hair caked with dirt. Isabella pouted, but her eyes never left Tyler.

“That’s not very nice, Aunt Shavie. We just had a tough time. And where were you when we needed your help?”

“Hiding in the bush.” Shavie smirked. “Yeah, you never quite forget your first kill. Don’t worry, the nightmares will be gone in a few months. Or a few days if you want to take some of your mother’s potions. Need help with that?”

Shavie seemed to take great pleasure in watching Claire and Nimi rush away from the dead body to throw up on the side of the road. Lily and Isabella would have too, but they concentrated on the task at hand.

Markus rolled his eyes. Her lighthearted joke was too soon and in bad taste.

Shrugging, Shavie ignored Tyler and went straight to loot the dead body, her hands quickly pocketing the many spare weapons he had on him. Noticing the odd looks she was getting, she did one last search for anything noteworthy and stood up while clearing her throat, wiping the dead man’s blood from her hands onto her pants.

“Ahem. Well, let’s get back home. A nice meal, a hot bath and a warm bed will do wonders for all of you. I’ll carry the boy home, so don’t worry about healing him, Isabella.”

“I need to stabilize him, aunt! He’s wounded! And probably poisoned! He's not responding at all!”

As Shavie debated with Isabella, Markus itched to check the body for loot too, but chances were Shavie had taken everything of value. Well, that and he didn’t want his party looking at him oddly either. Did they not remember the first rule of adventuring? Always loot enemies after combat.

“Fine, let me help you with this; Isabella. You have to get used to doing this by yourself though,” Shavie said.

“What do y-”

Shavie grabbed the handle and swung it, the edges of the blade severing his side and exposing his gut.

Isabella blanched as Shavie neatly grabbed the gut and stitched it up before packing it back into his body.

“There. You’ll have an easier time healing his wounds now. A little pain now so that you can heal him later. Learn from that, Isabella.”

Shaive callous voice rang out into the shocked clearing. Markus had known that was going to happen, though she should have done it a tad gentler. Shocked, Isabella’s hand shook as she healed Tyler, his skin fully scabbing over as she closed the wound up.

Shavie snorted impatiently as she turned to Lily.

"Don’t get so worked up over a party member getting hit. You almost got you and your whole team killed because of your hesitation.”

Lily shook as she watched Tyler on the ground. Shavie waited over Isabella in silence before picking the unconscious boy up. “That’s good enough for now. He won’t die on our way back. Pack up your things and let’s go.”

“What about the body?” Lily whispered.

“Hm?” Shavie said.

“His body. We should bury it at least?” Lily said with uncertainty as she pointed at the dead man.

Markus could tell burying someone was not high on Shavie’s priority list.

“...I’ll alert the guardsman and have them deal with it. The school will be very invested in finding the truth, after all.

“Now, get up and let’s get you all home,” Shavie said.

Isabella grumbled as she lightly berated her aunt about how he was holding the unconscious Tyler, while the others moved to grab their supplies.

But Markus watched Shavie as he dislodged his sword with one hand; the poisoned dagger never leaving his other hand.

Shavie hadn’t been hiding there the entire time.

And he hadn’t missed the smell of blood drifting off of her either.