Eh wot... I'm quivering...

Nii smiles at me, and peels himself off me.

He pushed me up against a wall! What! What is going...

Ah...

What a dozy mare I was. I nearly got bisected by that great-sword. The skeleton knight ambushed us from behind and I didn't even notice. I didn't even have a sword out. What a crap rear-guard.

Aria has instantly killed it though. The spear has actually penetrated the back of the skull with a crack. She seems rather strange right now.

Its bones collapse whilst the skull remains skewered, the great-sword dropping and skidding next to my foot as it cries those blue tears.

What a pathetic protector I am... my charges are protecting me. All because I was moping about being a burden before during the fight with the Skull Beast.

Ah! I was saved! My face burns up... and I feel fuzzy.

Elijah has turned away and the party has already started to move on, but I am just totally stunned, rubbing my legs together and squirming my back against the wall like some pervert.

"This is bad. I can only think about Nii... he even saved me again. I must stop. I need to..." I whisper, head down.

"Ufufufu... dalac sorni mes kataross il vist, sabac kataross il visti."

What? Seria is front of me suddenly as my head snaps up. How does she do that?

"That is to say, swordsgirl, 'If I deny my feelings then I only deny myself.' It was one of my master’s favourite anecdotes. Very applicable to magic." She nods.

Gaah! Fuuuuck!

I quick-draw a sword and throw it past Seria with a clang almost instinctively.

"I'm sorry." I immediately apologise. She looks mildly rattled, understandably.

Did the others not hear it clang? They continue to move, now out of sight.

"I will forgive you." She says.

"You shouldn't. Why are so kind to me? You even taught me that resonating sword concept. What is it you want..." I ask all at once. I am seriously a fucking idiot; questioning someone’s kindness.

She puts a finger to my lips.

"You rather remind me of my younger self." She answers, smiling. "Captive to emotions. All fire and thunder. Quite literally... in a spiritual sense."

She stretches as she relinquishes her finger and her neck chain clinks.

"A-are you saying I can be a mage? Eh wot?"

She smiles.

"Ufufufu. No. You do occasionally attract a pair of fire spirits. But never for long. It would be a fool’s errand to embark on that path. Especially now you have engraved the dispelling mantra on your mind..."

"In any case... all I am saying is... love in all forms is always humanities gift. Demons rarely understand it... It sounds like nonsense... perhaps it is... but it... it is never something to suppress." She continues.

I look on, stupefied.

"Did you know? Sages die when they lose interest in the world? The spirits do not care for such boring people, and cease to sustain them."

What is she saying?

"At one point, barely six months ago... I considered dying. My research was all I had. I had forsaken students after I had to murder one of them for treading the wrong path. Would you believe that my power recently has begun to return to what is was in my youth? And all because..."

"You have found something to love..." I finish.

"Fufufu... it is embarrassing when you say it so clearly. When did I become such a deceitful old bat?" Seria sighs.

I think of her earlier incident, when she proclaimed her 'scholarly' love for Nii. Aria may have been fooled... but...

How does Nii do it? Saving girls can't be all there is to it. Honesty?

I blush again, thinking of when he gazed at me so lewdly when we first met.

All I wanted before was to get stronger to meet Dad and Kako and Celia's expectations. But now...

Now I want to be strong for Elijah. Is this what Dad was going on about?

Seria pats me on the cheek.

"Even if it is doomed to failure. We are..."

"In this together?" I propose.

She cackles.

Then she grabs my hand.

"Yes. See... you even finish my sentences. We are hilariously similar."

I grin back. I will protect her too. And Aria, Rishya, and even Kaede and even that weirdo punchy girl.

It is my duty as a knight. I think I understand Kako a bit.

My family has sure grown.

I need to stop dwelling on my mistakes and be the sword for them all.

If that means a coward like me fighting the lord of demons himself... even if I will die...

I will not be afraid.