Noticing Essairyn’s sudden change in expression as she stared at him, K descended from the tree. Upon the mercenary landing and approaching her, she involuntarily stepped back. His head was no longer covered by a cloak, but she still could not see his facial features. Bandages with splotches of blood were wrapped around his head and arms. They seemed to continue across his chest and the rest of his body clothed in a loose black shirt and straight-cut black pants.

Essairyn wordlessly stumbled on the jumbled questions that couldn’t leave her mouth. Why is he hurt? When did he get hurt? What happened since I was unconscious and we left Farinheld? A slinking guilt wound its way around her heart. For a split second, she had thought that the mercenary’s mission had diverged from the knights, and he was withholding further information. But his shocking appearance had quieted her unfounded suspicions. If the knights didn’t trust in the mercenary, they would have never allowed him to join the mission.

“…Are you okay?” She finally found her voice. “Why…Why’re you injured?”

His lips curved into a forlorn smile. “A small affliction from Balgair, you need not worry.”

“A small injury? What’re you talking about? You’re covered head to toe in bloody bandages!” Equally worried and flabbergasted by his nonchalance, she drew near to better inspect him. The blood appeared old, but this didn’t comfort her.

“You can get an infection if you don't change your bandages. And why’re you outside in the woods rather than inside? Don’t tell me, you’re sleeping in the trees again?”

The mercenary shrugged, prompting a frown across Essairyn’s face. Sighing, she remarked, “What’s with you and sleeping in trees? The few times I found you in Farinheld, you were snoozing the day away on a branch.”

The man smiled faintly. “When you’re on the road so much, you get accustomed to sleeping in the trees.”

Essairyn clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. While she still found sitting and jumping through the treetops enjoyable, her first night in this world sleeping on a bough was the first and last time she would ever willingly sleep out in the open.

“I can’t even blame your employer for living so…” She couldn’t find the right word and left the remark hanging.

K chuckled airily at her mumbling and disgruntled expression. “Yes, it is my choice. My employer grants me stores of magic for my mission and enough wealth to live comfortably. But it is easier to investigate H.T. by keeping a low profile.”

“Then, why didn’t you heal yourself with that magic? You must still be injured since I wouldn’t understand why you would keep bandages on already healed wounds. And…” Her eyes roved across his hidden face, searching for a speck of light reflected in his eyes from the depths of the shadows.

“I still never got to properly thank you for saving me from Kajarn’s attack. If his magic was anything like Balgair, then I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if I had been hit––Wait.” Her mind seized sudden possibilities and explanations for his injuries. “You were there when Balgair reflected my attack? Is that how you got hurt?”

K reached out and lightly pressed a finger above the middle of her furrowed eyebrows. “Don’t worry. I am okay.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” A little peeved, she grasped his hand and peered at the bandages. “…Does it hurt?”

He hummed in reassurance. “No, since I’m tapped out of magic at the moment, I’m not able to access my cache and replace the bandages or retrieve my mana stones stored inside.”

“Huh? How could you be so careless to put yourself in that situation? That doesn’t sound like you, someone’s who been so careful hiding his identity.” She fiddled around his bandages, intending to find the ends in order to loosen and refresh them with ones from the medical cabinets inside the Cyanmay’s house.

He grimaced in abashment at her directness. “It was an emergency, so I didn’t think ahead and acted on impulse.” In truth, he had used most of his mana stones transporting the group to Eisso’s house. While the doctor’s home was not too far off from where they got knocked out, it was still a considerable journey with a broken carriage and his single horse.

Seeing Essairyn so focused on unraveling his bindings, he pulled his arm away. “You don’t have to do anything. I’m fine.”

Stubbornly, she clutched his retreating hand. “No, I can help you change them. Though, I don’t understand why you didn’t ask Eisso. He’s a doctor after all.”

“It’s a magical ailment, so he wouldn’t be able to heal me with medicine. Besides, what were you going to do? Use bandages from a house that isn’t yours when you’re supposed to be sleeping right now?”

“Ah—!” Essairyn almost huffed in vexation at him calling out her exact intentions. Whipping her head to the side, she crossed her arms and slightly frowned while thinking of how to reply. It didn’t help that he looked quite entertained by her fluster.

“But re-dressing your wounds? Why couldn’t he if you don’t want me to?”

K paused, pursing his lips as he thought. I don’t want you to see. These wounds of mine will only make you feel more guilty after everything that happened. I don’t want to see you cry. Your face was already tear-stained earlier…

Frustrated by his silence and unable to bear her concerns mingled with curiosity, Essairyn deftly removed a bandage loop on his hand before he could protest. As the bindings quickly unraveled, she shockingly spotted a deep gash of ice-covered blood before K hastily withdrew his arm and attempted to cover his skin.

“Liar.” She stared at him with knitted brows. “You said it didn’t hurt.”

“But, it really doesn’t hurt.”

“…”

After a moment’s hesitation, Essairyn stepped forward and caught K’s bandages. With a small tug, they tumbled to the ground, exposing his left arm strewn with similar gashes. He flinched in surprise at the rapid movement and blocked her hand from removing any more. But she merely glared at him angrily and gripped his shirt.

“What are these wounds? Did you faint or something after taking us to Eisso? Where did these—” She placed a palm over one gash, beginning to will her magic into it. The sudden action made him jerk away as he objected.

“Stop. Are you crazy? Don’t heal me with your magic. Hey—!!”

The two toppled onto the ground from K trying to escaping her lunge.

“You stop! You’re still bleeding for goodness sake! Look! It’s even on your stomach!” Her fingers grazed the skin uncovered from his tousled shirt, making K shiver and shoot up onto his feet.

“I said no magic! Are you seriously going to put yourself at risk when you just woke up after a week? Please don’t do this, I can’t stand seeing you hurt again––”

“Gosh darn it just stay right there! I won’t do it, okay?!” Essairyn huffed as she grasped his shoulders. “Is…there really nothing I can do for you? Are you not going to tell me how this happened…?” Her lavender eyes shone with unshed tears.

A tentative hand touched her cheek. “I’ll tell you, so…don’t cry.” He sighed defeatedly and recollected himself. Slowly, he explained, “When I found you after fighting Balgair, you were in a critical condition. Aispin’s spell redirected damage to him, but he was already at his limit. If it weren’t for your rain magic still holding out against the demonic energy surrounding you, you might have––” K swallowed the word. “ …not made it.”

“Then…” Essairyn shakily began after his brief pause. “You also took on some of the demonic magic to save me…?”

He gave a slow nod and continued. “…I redirected some of the damage to myself, but I don’t have a high regular m’u. So, I have to spread it out over time, or else, my body won’t be able to take it. This spell works by ensnaring the attacking magic in a contract through the ancient language.” Since he knew that transporting them would take a considerable amount of mana, he had to save her in this way.

Essairyn’s mind spun chaotically. Remorse, indignation, and despondency spiraled in a tremulous pot of stark realization. “…How could I endanger so many people? And yet I’m being repeatedly saved from my foolishness? When will I stop? When will I learn that this isn’t a magical walk in the park?” She gulped down the bitter emotion. Does it take nearly dying again for me to learn my lesson? The death of Leo? Aispin in a coma? And K…

“You…you are the crazy one. How could you…do this to yourself? Why save me and subject yourself to this, this…” Her fingers brushed his exposed arm scattered with gruesome yet oddly alluring gashes from the way that the layered frost contained the fresh blood underneath.

Essairyn sighed deeply, confused and troubled about this man’s motives. Was he merely being kind? Don’t be so kind. She glared at the wounds angrily, making herself increasingly upset until a hot tear dropped from her eye. Hurriedly, she wiped it with the back of her hand and before K said anything, retorted, “I don’t know.”

Essairyn was tired of being hurt and getting people hurt. The day was still fresh with the torrent of emotions from earlier, and in this moment, it all came rushing back. The pain of losing her loved ones in her past life and the fear of losing new ones in this life. While it was true that she did not know this man as well as she knew her traveling companions or even those from the Neu’arth Academy campus sent for the Farinheld mission, he had still been with her from the start.

Thus, she felt an odd connection and sense of familiarity with him. It was why she frequently sought out his presence––he was her first human friend that had extended his hand out to her. This comforting feeling around K was different from the Andelrins’ hospitality, perhaps because he was closer to her in age. So, it tore her heart that he would voluntarily inflict suffering on himself in order to alleviate her pain. Self-injury was a frightening thought to Essairyn who had once fallen into a pit of despair in her past life.

“…such a fool. ….You’re a real fool.”

K tipped his head a little to the side. “Now that’s not very nice.” His silly smirk irritated her. He was dangerously close to being smacked for taking his situation so lightly.

“I didn’t lie when I said that it didn’t hurt. The first spell is quite painful, but I combined it with a freezing spell that numbs it. So, I truly can’t feel any pain.”

Mildly relieved, Essairyn asked quietly, “You know ice magic?”

“Yes, I’m—” His words cut short as K realized he had revealed too much about himself by accident.

However, Essairyn had caught onto his words and exclaimed with sparkling eyes, “You’re an ice elemental?!” When she had seen the icy wounds, that possibility had come to mind. But, elementals were known to be much bigger than humans, and while K was tall, his height was normal for humans.

The mercenary quickly rejected the notion. “I’m a human, just like you. But my ancestry includes elementals.”

“Umm…wouldn’t that still make you both, though? Human-elemental mixed?”

Although humans and elementals typically lived separately, interracial relationships sometimes occurred. But, pure elementals often looked down at these half-breeds and scorned them from their society. Only As’rienans treated human-elemental hybrids respectfully due to their ancestors being humans blessed by the rain goddess. They even incorporated them into their communities.

“Uh—” K blinked. “It’s— different. We’ve…always been different from the elementals.” His vague answer and forlorn tone only made Essairyn more curious, but she had a feeling he wasn’t going to divulge anymore.

“Then, these injuries go away once the spell’s contract is finished?”

“Yes, now that you’ve woken up, they’ll go away once the spell completes. The bandages were only to cover up the wounds initially, so I don’t need them anymore. It was simply uncomfortable having my cloak touch the ice directly.”

“I see, that’s good then…” Essairyn went silent as she pondered how long they had together. After her perilous experience with Balgair, she knew that two weeks of education and training wouldn’t be enough if she wanted to survive and protect her friends. Traveling and enrolling at the Knight-Mage Academy in Neu’arth was her best bet in getting stronger and avenging Leœss. So, today might be the last time she would ever see K before he left.

As if reading her thoughts from her distressed expression, he lightly touched the side of her head and assured, “Our paths will cross again should you continue chasing after H.T. So, make sure you don’t get hurt again. Don’t be too reckless and take care of yourself.”

His gentle words that sounded like a farewell squeezed her heart, making Essairyn muddled. Instead of responding, she lifted her hand and fumbled around the back of his head, searching for the ends of his bandages in his glossy black hair. K was quiet as she hesitantly unraveled the wrappings from his head. With each strip of white cloth dropped, the rest of his facial features appeared in the dwindling light.

Strong brows, long lashes, high cheek bones… He was more handsome than she had anticipated. His intense, viridescent irises connected with her lavender ones, stunning and making her a little nervous. “…Your eyes…. They’ve also been affected by the spell?”

K touched his face. Blood had poured out of the sockets when he had cast the spell. Since he had previously used this exact spell multiple times to withstand greater damage than his m’u capacity could handle, the blood and accompanying pain wasn’t a surprise. It had stopped hurting once the casting was finished, but the resultant effect was an almost red sclera that still bled every so often as long as the spell was active.

“This will disappear soon, too."

And so will you. Essairyn thought dispiritedly. “Next time, please do don’t this and hurt yourself. I’m already indebted to you enough.”

“It’s fine. It was my choice.”

“…Are all strangers as kind as you? No, I know not everyone is like that, H.T. for one. But still…I guess good samaritans exist in this world, too.”

“Who?” K tipped his head curiously, making Essairyn realize that he wouldn’t know what a “good samaritan” was in this world. But before she could explain, he rebuffed her compliment. “I’m not kind. I simply live and do as I’m told in order to survive. Me helping you was…rebelling.”

Essairyn muffled her snort with her hand. “What are you? A kid? Rebelling at your age, haha.”

He gave a sheepish, lopsided smile. “Perhaps. My mother is probably cursing me back home.”

Essairyn giggled and clasped his hands. “Next time that I see you, please don’t appear in front of me injured. Stay well.”

He nodded with a soft smile. “Will do. Good night, Essairyn.”

His farewell stirred up the melancholy she had felt just earlier. For one last moment, Essairyn quietly stared at the man as if etching him in her memory.

“…Good night, K.”

After that night, she didn’t see K again. And Izlende and Akari didn’t have much to divulge about the mercenary from their conversations with him. They had only discussed Farinheld and the disappearance of Balgair’s body after the fight. It was unnerving that he had been able to walk away from what was supposed to be a death blow. And it was unknown whether Balgair had been too weak to try killing them in their unconsciousness, or if he had fled the scene upon K’s timely arrival. Essairyn wondered if he had any help, or if one of the villagers had picked up his body.

Essairyn tapped the wooden table she sat at listlessly. “I should make a trip back to the village…” She murmured to herself, bored of not being allowed to do anything but mostly eat and sleep for the last two days. Aispin also hadn’t awakened in that time, and still, neither she nor Eisso could figure out a solution to his condition.

Sighing, she flopped over onto the table in defeat. Outside of resting and eating, Essairyn slyly snuck practicing magic spells in her free time. They were minor spells that wouldn’t impair her recovery, and she always allowed the magic to flow back in her body before release. But Aispin’s and K’s injurious spells made her all the more determined to fully grasp ancient language and the art of spell casting. While her unorthodox methods allowed her vast flexibility to manipulate magic into many forms beyond the typical scope of human mages and standard spells, it took more mana as a price. Only elementals could wield proper, true magic without incantations or a decline in efficiency.

Lifting her body back up, she glanced around the room and initiated one of the spells she had been practicing. Not a second later, the spark of magic fizzled when Essairyn jolted in surprise from a shout in the house. Disconcerted, she jumped out of her chair and ran out of the parlor. In the hallway, she saw an open door to Aispin’s room where the noise originated. Dashing inside, she was met with a grief-stricken father holding his limp daughter.

“What happened?” Essairyn yelled and stooped down to where Eisso had caught Lyressa from hitting the floor. Also hearing the commotion from other corners of the house, Darren and Izlende rushed inside the room after Essairyn.

Eisso shook his head miserably. “It’s my fault. The main treatment I concocted to be effective against demonic damage to Aispin’s spirit utilizes a poisonous flower. The poison latches onto demonic magic, so both of them can purified from the body at once with a specific tonic from Yhirdene Cove in northwestern As’pyze. I recently ran out of this tonic and sent an air express to Byar’non’s relay station for more. But in the meantime, I’ve been researching more alternative treatments in my study and accidentally left the greenhouse doors open in-between batch experiments…” He turned his head toward the flower vase by Aispin’s beside.

“Lyressa is such a good child, I didn’t expect her to enter the greenhouse when she knows not to… I suppose she really attached herself to Aispin and thought placing the flowers in here would help instead of the wildflowers she picks every day for him.” Seeing the concern that flashed across everyone’s faces when he mentioned those very poisonous flowers were inside this room, Eisso reassured them.

“Only if you ingest or touch them with open cuts are these flowers dangerous.” He opened Lyra’s enfolded hands which had minor scrapes from playing out in the woods. “She likes sitting in this chair beside him, so I imagine when she called me over upon seeing Aispin stir, the poison had already infected her bloodstream.”

Everyone was silent.

“Then…” Essairyn carefully spoke first to encourage the doctor. “Will you be able to heal her like Aispin? You discovered such an effective remedy for him, so I’m sure you’ll also be able to find––”

“It was my mistake. I should have never left the door open.” Eisso wordlessly lifted his daughter’s body up and began walking out of the room.

“Dr. Cyanmay?” Essairyn continued nervously as they all followed him to Lyressa’s room. “Are you ok—”

“I’m no doctor if I can’t even save my own child. I’ve been researching an alternate method of mirroring the Sytas Meisyirus flower’s medicinal functions without the need for the Yhirdene tonic since it is largely inaccessible to the populace, but before I could even make one breakthrough, my own daughter—” His arms quaked from his surging emotion as he placed his child on a pink bed.

“Eisso.” Darren laid an assuring hand on the other man’s arm. “Please tell us what we can do to help. You already reordered the tonic, so there must be something—”

“No, it’s too late.” Eisso shook his head regretfully as he let go of Lyressa. “Since the Knights are traveling to the village ruins to investigate Balgair’s schemes, I asked them to pick up my order arriving tomorrow so that I could obtain it quicker instead of a week’s round trip to Byar’non and back. The tonic must be delivered in-person as it’ll combust in magic transit. Aispin will wake up soon, so it’s not critical now if he doesn’t receive the treatment for a few days. But my Lyressa…” He choked down a strangled sob. “It won’t arrive in time… If only I had sent a request earlier before I ran out, then she could have survived… A child exposed to the poison cannot live long. Only two days at most.…”

Essairyn’s chest tightened as she gripped her hands. “Is there really nothing else we can do? Maybe you’ll be able to extend her time by—”

“That estimate includes my own abilities.” He stoically stood up and turned to leave. “Thank you, everyone. I’m going to tend to my daughter now. Please excuse me.”

They watched Eisso’s retreating back with hushed sorrow. The three young adults knew the pain of losing someone, but their grief could not compare to that of a single father losing his only child, his remaining connection to his beloved, deceased wife.

“There must be something…” Essairyn murmured mournfully as they exited Lyressa’s room. “I feel absolutely terrible that in his time of need, we’re all helpless to return his kindness.”

Darren exhaled heavily. “After Leo’s death, I thought we could finally get away from all the stress and return to happier times by going to Neu’arth as we discussed yesterday. But in the end, it still turned out like this…”

“Perhaps…” Izlende muttered unsurely. “One of us can teleport to Byar’non and back, or to the Knights arriving in Farinheld tomorrow to save on distance and mana. That would still be within the two days that Lyressa can survive at max, but the biggest issue is…”

“Teleportation is costly and complex,” Darren promptly finished her train of thought. “Even though I don’t want to see Lyra die, I also don’t want either of you spontaneously combusting trying to be heroic.”

Essairyn sighed as she recalled out loud. “I remember Kajarn and Lyam both escaped through teleportation charms, but it wasn’t through the conventional method. Even if we knew how they did it, it’s probably something we can’t replicate, and it might even be more dangerous than the standard method. But even teleporting the known way is still dangerous because we’ve never done it before. Well, at least I haven’t.” She looked at Izlende who unfortunately shook her head.

“I have never teleported myself, but I am well versed on the fundamentals of the process having studied at Neu’arth campus. Individual self-teleportation requires so much magic that I have never been in a situation where I’d choose that over a teleportation station or simply traveling by vehicle.”

Conflicted, Essairyn frowned. Although she had quickly recovered most of her strength the last couple of days, even with three more days of accumulating magic in her Ayvirdizite, she would be in no condition to try and teleport such a distance without any prior experience. If this had been before Farinheld and Balgair, then her past self might have jumped at the chance to learn and risk it for her benefactor. Still, she couldn’t simply give up because she had become more level-headed after being dealt a stark reality on the consequences of her brashness.

“Then, if teleportation is out of the question…” Essairyn mumbled pensively. “How else can we travel there quicker? We only have horses, but it’s not like we can magically amplify their speed like we do to our bodies––” She suddenly halted as the beginnings of an idea sparked in her mind.

Not realizing this, Izlende nodded and added, “Yes, since this is the countryside, people don’t commonly drive cars like in the Northern Province of As’pyze where Neu’arth is located. Byar’non is steadily progressing toward the modern, urban cities of the North. But it doesn’t––”

“––A magical car.”

“––have the infrastructure––what?” Izlende stopped mid-sentence due to Essairyn’s abrupt words and wide-eyed expression.

“A flying magical vehicle!” Essairyn repeated with gusto upon connecting what she learned from the Academy to her personal abilities. “Mages can fly with magic circles, and air freight uses magic to traverse the skies more efficiently!”

Izlende raised a skeptical brow. “But you can travel only so fast on magical circles before you fly off. And how exactly can we create a mini-airplane in one day?”

The raven-haired girl dismissed the doubts with a wave and motioned enthusiastically as she explained, “Knight-mages are known to create physical weapons out of their magic, but what about other objects? I tried to fly by creating a floating disk, but that turned into a magical circle. But what if I try to make a flying vehicle instead?”

Izlende and Darren stared at the girl speechlessly. They had forgotten that Essairyn had knight-mage capabilities due to her frequent use of physical weapons. The last time that Darren had seen her use a weapon fully crafted from magic was during the fight with the dire wolves on the Welfort farmstead. Since she had received the ice sword from the farmers, most of her recent self-training after leaving Byar’non Academy was on swordsmanship with her ice sword or proper spell-casting.

However, she had fought with her magic scythe against Lyam in Farinheld, but only K had seen her with it from their mission group. And Izlende had only seen Essairyn’s magic sword demonstration, so she was unaware of any other objects that the self-proclaimed knight-mage could create.

“Can you really make that?” Izlende asked with restrained excitement. “If you made a flying capsule, then possibly––!”

Essairyn vigorously bobbed her head and clasped the other girl’s hands. Izlende bounced on her toes and hugged Essairyn gratefully. They could finally repay Dr. Cyanmay’s altruism with this plan. Darren smiled and tousled his hair, breathing in relief.

“If you experiment with your own magic like that, then I have no qualms. It’s much safer than attempting to learn and teleport in a day’s time. And even if you fall out while flying, that’s not going to hurt you severely.”

“Exactly!” Essairyn agreed with the boy’s assessment. “I won’t be flying high since that’ll cost more magic anyway, and I can deal with a few scrapes if things go haywire.”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing that our own magic can’t hurt us––err, well…” Izlende scratched her cheek. “Except for Balgair’s magical reflection. I still don’t understand how he defied an established principle of magic.”

“No point trying to figure it out again when we already wracked our heads before. And at the very least, it didn’t completely defy that principle since it wasn’t my own rain magic being sent back. I simply got hit with double the force of…whatever that weird magic was.”

Essairyn briefly reflected on the rebounded energy that wasn’t of pure demonic origin but of mixed magic types. She was not knowledgable enough to decipher its composition from being hit with it, and with Aispin in a coma, she hadn’t been able to discuss with him on what it might’ve been. He was far more educated as well as the only other person who directly experienced the rebound. The others had not felt the impact and had instead been knocked out by Balgair’s hidden attack sent along with the reflected force of Essairyn’s last strike.

“That reminds me…I forgot to ask Akari how she survived. K said she had also been unconscious…”

Izlende patted Essairyn’s shoulder. “Ah, don’t worry about that. She woke up before me, around when K arrived. Her previous injury worsened due to Balgair’s demonic energy, but as you saw when you woke up a few days ago, she recovered quickly.”

“I know. It’s just, she’s been cooped up in that greenhouse most of the time or wandering in the woods out back. So, I haven’t been able to talk with her much while recuperating.”

“Oh, I asked her about that,” Darren piped in to reassure her. “She said one of the plants reminded her of her past.”

“And she’s probably secretly training in the forest,” Izlende added with a wink. “In order to ‘properly save you’ next time.”

Essairyn giggled. “You think? She did seem low-energy whenever we spoke, so that would explain why.” She frowned faintly. “I would tell her that nothing was her fault since she appeared to be still upset about everything that happened…”

“And nothing was your or our fault either,” said Izlende. “It was just an unfortunate situation we came across. But better that we survived and reported it to the Knights than have more villagers or knights suffer from whatever Balgair was doing."

Essairyn shivered inwardly as the image of soul-enslaved villagers flashed in her mind. “Yes, if H.T. is in fact behind this incident, then this could be proof of their crimes as well as an answer to what exactly they’re doing.”

“Exactly. Like I said the other day, some knights are coming to inspect the area. They’re probably on their way as we speak. Poor Bodraig was shocked when K reported what happened to us. It made him regret permitting our pursuit of H.T. right after Farinheld’s mess. But learning that humans were being captured and controlled and that Balgair could reflect attacks… Well, you understand the cause for alarm.”

“Yeah… Let’s hope the Knights can resolve it,” agreed Darren. “Though, we haven’t been to the village since we came to the Cyanmays, and it’s a wreck due to Balgair. So, I’m not sure how much they’ll be able to discover after taking so long to organize a follow-up investigative mission…”

“True.” Izlende frowned slightly. “Knight procedures are so tedious, so we were only able to set out that quickly from Farinheld because of Aispin’s indefinite mission.”

"I was thinking of visiting there anyway,” informed Essairyn, “to ask the villagers if they picked up his body or something.”

“And you expect them to answer you just like that?” Darren lifted a brow.

Essairyn laughed dryly. “Maybe their connection to him weakened? For all we know, they could be celebrating their freedom and torturing him if he’s still alive.”

Taken aback, Izlende exclaimed, “Oh gods, is that really what you’re thinking of? Although…” She smirked fleetingly. “I could see that. I would for sure give Balgair a living hell if I were in their shoes. No––I definitely would do that if I had his body right now.”

Blinking rapidly at the sinisterly vengeful expression on Izlende’s face, Essairyn nervously smiled. “Take it easy now, partner.” She laid a hand on the quietly cackling woman. “We can’t tamper with mission evidence.”

Izlende chuckled. “Of course. I’m just kidding. Or am I?”

Essairyn elbowed the platinum-haired woman. “All right, very funny. I’m sure we’d all love to sock him after what he did, but let’s go tell Eisso of our plan. Since he keeps a lot of mana stones for his experiments, he might be able to help us and fuel the round trip. I don’t know how much magic it’ll take to create a secure flying vehicle or capsule, but I certainly don’t have enough m’u to drive it to Farinheld and back."

“Yes. I can also give you my magic, but it’s not the best type for speed or acceleration. So hopefully, he has something that works better.”

“Same here.” Darren lightly thumped his chest. “For whatever it’s worth, you can use my magic, too. Since opening my magic cache in our Elementary Magic Skills class, I have a steadier flow of magic. So with an empty mana stone, I think you should be able to capture it.”

“Right, I remember that.” Essairyn thought back to their classes at Byar’non Academy. Regardless if someone was a knight or mage, a personal magic cache was an essential for adventurers, a necessity even because of its convenience when traveling. In their second to last class, Darren had unlocked his own. It was a small inventory due to his low magic capacity, but it would grow larger as he trained and increased in rank.

“Thank you.” Essairyn grinned optimistically and drew her two friends close for a hug. “Between the three, no, five of us, we’ll figure this out and save Lyra.”

Izlende and Darren confidently smiled, and they set off after Eisso to deliver hopeful news. Dr. Cyanmay had been inconsolable, but he felt immensely grateful for their uncalled for proposition and eagerly offered his support. He handed Essairyn several mana stones with various types of magic, and for the rest of the day, she concentrated on magical crafting of a flying capsule.

The following dawn, Essairyn visited Aispin’s room, taking comfort in his steady breaths and improved countenance. He no longer appeared to be on the verge of death. While holding his hand lightly, she whispered, “I’ll be going now. Hopefully you’ll be awake when I return so that we can greet Lyra together. I’m sure she’d love your face to be the first thing she sees. See you later…Aispin.” Letting his name dwell on her tongue, Essairyn gave him a firm, little shake before leaving the room.

On the way out of the house, Akari trotted up from behind the girl. “You’re going now?”

Essairyn grunted her confirmation and shut the door behind them. The others were still sleeping, but they knew she was departing early in order to minimize time wasted for Lyressa.

“Can you bring me along?” Akari blurted as Essairyn conjured her chosen model. “I know we all agreed for you to travel alone to save on mana, but I’m lightweight! And it’s been bothering me all night…what if something happens to you? I’m too worried with all these H.T. goons about…” Her tails drooped as she flattened her ears.

The girl gently smiled and petted the spirit fox on the head. “Sure, Eisso and everyone gave me plenty of mana, so a few extra pounds won’t hurt. And honestly, I’m a little anxious going by myself.”

Akari perked her ears and tails and happily skipped inside Essairyn’s magical vehicle. Together, they rode the flying capsule at a blistering pace above the treetops and outlying fields. But as they approached the abandoned village on the way to Farinheld, they spied the wreckage in flames. And on the outskirts, a mob gathered around a wooden stake.