Achiel and Abach, two of the three moons which orbited this planet were present in the sky.

Due to the multiple moons, this society never created a concept such as "months". Instead each year is separated by 62 weeks composed of 6 days each, for a total of 372 days.

Going by the Common Azurian calendar, this was the 241st day of the year 707, putting us in the middle of autumn.

I had thought there might be some complicated scheme to the calendar, with leap days or something every X years, but it seems that for some reason, season drift does not occur. Well no, that's not quite right. It seems that the calendar has been offset by close to 6 or 7 days, if you use the solstice as a guide. Meaning that it takes up to around 100 years for an entire day to be offset, instead of just 4.

I find it strange the planet's rotation matches up so cleanly with its orbit around the sun, but I've decided not to question it.

Tonight, I take a stroll through the woods, after telling my mother.

Of course, the reason is to cover the trail of those bumbling idiots who left a track so obvious a blind man can follow it. That said, it would be suspicious if the trail vanished without a trace, so I went to great effort to create a new trail that led further south.

I did all this with time frozen of course.

Backtracking the group's route, I eventually found a small group of men, who seemed well dressed for hiking through the forest, all armed to the teeth. I took a look at their maps and equipment, and wondered how Aniel and Aire's group could have gotten so far ahead of them. They had already set up camp efficiently, and had a number of lookouts.

If I had to guess, those brats had quite a head start.

While investigating their camp, I found something—drawings that seemed to depict Aire and Aniel. Interesting.

Within the tent of the one of the captain-like guys, I found a journal that cataloged their mission in detail, so I decided to read through it. More information couldn't hurt, and besides—I had all the time in the world.

When I finally left the camp, I made my way towards my little hide-out. A cave in the woods that me and Yenna found, and decided to make it into a cozy "clubhouse".

There weren't any signs it was used recently, so we ended up covering the entrance, hiding it from beast and humans alike.

However, I didn't quite head there yet.

Instead, I found a quiet, isolated part of the forest, and claimed up a tree with relative ease. I'm honestly surprised with my amazingly dexterous hands, and athletic body in this world—in my past life I could hardly climb even a small tree.

Once at the top, I settled myself in, tried to balance myself on a few branches, and calmed my thoughts.

As I shifted my body into "real time", it hit.

Pain assaulted me only a few seconds after, as my feet and hands ached and blistered. While I couldn't feel any skin tear, I could feel my bones reverberate in shock, and all of my limbs went numb following the initial wave of pain.

The backlash was pretty intense this time.

After all, I walked a whole day's worth, and did quite a lot of activity, all in the span of a microsecond. Imagine the soreness you feel from walking for hours without rest, multiplied many times over, and compressed into an instant.

The only upside is that my body doesn't seem to waste energy on the actions I performed at those speeds. Or rather, the energy used is too small for me to even notice.

Still, this ability is inconvenient to use in a fight. Even if I punched someone several times in the face, I'll probably end up breaking my hand once I shift into real-time.

Something like a sword, which doesn't reverberate much damage back to my body—that might be well suited for me. Maybe. I've never used a sword, so I wouldn't know.

The really weird part though, is why I can so easily pass through air. Theoretically, the wind should be tearing my skin and eyes apart, right? Why does it so seamlessly pass around me, I wonder?

Well, no point in complaining about the physics of my power.

Lucky for me, even though my feet look fairly dainty, my years of running and exercise have mostly toughened them up, so I don't quite have any blisters on them. My hands on the other hand...

Still, I force myself to climb down to the forest floor after several minutes of huffing and puffing for air. I was in a rather vulnerable position there, you know?

After cleaning myself off, and making sure I look proper, I make my way to the hideout which I've made those nobles hide in.

When I enter the cave, I find all of them fast asleep. Even the Princess's guard was asleep. I noticed nearly all of them except for the princess herself. Her, I could smell further inside the cave, and as I made it to the "room" she was in, I saw her sitting there on a blanket of leaves with Aniel laying beside her.

A small lamp lit up the small room, and as I entered, Aire looked surprised to see me.

"O-oh! You have returned," She said somewhat startled, before adding on, "Esteemed Spirit,"

"Ah, you don't have to be so humble. You're a Princess, aren't you? My name is Toyaru," I said, partly annoyed by the treatment.

"I am extremely honored," she said, bowing her head to me.

"Don't fret over something like that. You're the first Princess I've ever met, so having you be so humble is kinda breaking my image of a princess, you know?"

"I'm sorry,"

"Don't apologize,"

"No, I'm sorry about Aniel. He should have been my responsibility. I... We, have quite a bit to lose, you see," She explained, while looking down at the sleeping boy.

I didn't quite say anything, but I was sort of surprised he was still asleep. Knocking someone out like how I did usually only works for a few seconds, a minute at most. I guess these brats were really tired running through the forest.

As I looked back up at Aire's expression, she was still looking down at Aniel's sleeping face, and I could make out a flurry of emotions expressed on that face—some that felt like they carried hidden meaning.

"Oh? I wasn't aware you two were in that kind of relationship," I teased with a grin as I dropped myself to the floor with my legs crossed. My accusation had no bases, but it couldn't hurt to talk. Talking was healthy for the soul.

She seemed to react flustered as she shuck her head and denied my words, "It's not like that! We've just been friends for years, and—"

She continued to ramble about this and that, and seeing as I had time, and I wanted to hear what she had to say, I pushed her along.

I asked if perhaps the two were betrothed or something, but she corrected me; the Anozu family, the noble family that Aniel belonged to, was far too low in status to have that sort of relationship.

Their group was merely a collection of some noble children who ended up playing together at a young age, and formed a childish club. Aire herself only got involved with them years after the "initial group", and they'd stay in touch since.

"Aniel somehow found one of the city's secret passages, that led into the castle," She said, having calmed down, as she told her story. "At the time, I was using the passage to get away from Turin, my guard—he was too overprotective, and I wanted... space, as Aniel called it. I ended up running into him that day, and somehow we became friends. Not just acquaintances who had to socialize as some sort of duty—but genuine friends.

It wasn't long after, that I learned Aniel was some kind of Genius. When he perfected his enchantment research, he gathered up the group, and began treating it all like a secret society, and he put me at the top," she said.

A secret society?

"Looks like he intended to start a coup?" I tilted my head.

"Maybe," She laughed, "But it's not like it would have had to go that far. If the nobles saw that I had the support of a small but powerful force, my father could have placed me on the throne, instead of my older brother," She explained, but as she did her eyes seem to cloud up, and tear up.

"I see. That's quite something," I replied, but not sure how to change the subject. "Ah! I almost forgot. What about those two girls? The non-humans?"

As she blinked away the moisture that had gathered at her eyes, she gazed back at me for a second, and then back down at Aniel. "They were... two slave girls Aniel took in on a whim," She said.

"What?"

"I didn't quite understand his decision either. Not until we entered the forest anyways,"

"Oh?"—wait, so they were slaves they picked up after the invasion?

"The younger girl. The one with the blue skin and weird eyes. Her senses are phenomenal. She was apparently bred from several different fay, until they ended up with a breed with perfect senses, that can even feel magic," she explained. "We were able to avoid wild animals and monsters once we entered the forest. And she even told us exactly when Lein's hunters entered the forest, so we've been able to keep away from them as much as possible."

That sounds pretty amazing, actually.

"And the other one?"

"That one... She claims to be from a clan of noble demons." Demons, or literally Dark Fay.

Humans aren't the only race that builds up kingdoms. Even some race of Fay have established great empires that have risen and fallen. Of course, those are usually the ones labeled as Dark Fay by humans, seeing as those are the ones humans usually come into conflict with.

"Her clan has the power to see the desires of anyone. Aniel said she would be useful for distinguishing people who were just aiming to take advantage of us," She explained.

"And after buying them, he removed their chains?"

Aire shrugged, as though she didn't get it either. It was weird behavior; wouldn't it be better to keep them from being able to run away? Keep a collar or something on them, and keep them close? But instead he practically freed them, and has them follow from the center of the group.

It didn't quite seem like something a noble would do. Or really, anyone raised in this society.

As I was thinking that, something clicked in my head as I recalled a detail I missed.

"Tell me about that... Enchantment Research," I asked. It slipped by me when she said it, but... I don't recall anything like Enchantments. There were presumably spirits with such abilities, but what could Aniel have been researching? That was probably the secret to his magic, right?

"I... quite honestly don't know," She said, "It was all over my head, even as Aniel tried to explain it to me carefully," she said with a sigh.

"I see," I said as I pulled myself up.

"Where are you going?"

"Out. To sleep. I'm tired. Took a lot of effort to mislead your pursuers," I said, stretching my arms.

With a face of surprise, Aire once again bowed her head towards me, "Thank you for all your help," she said, before looking back up at me with a bright smile.

"Don't thank me. This isn't free," I told her, before turning on my heel, and leaving the two alone in the dim room.

I figured that princess wouldn't know much about that "Enchantment Research". If it was something like magic research, a mere child probably wouldn't understand it.

But Aniel did.

But is Aniel truly just a child genius? Or is he a bit more than that—?

Author Notes:

Somehow I've found myself writing for this story a lot. Guess I got sucked into writing for it, and I can't stop. I guess the way the story flows just has me writing more. Hurts me to have so many chapters waiting, but at the same time I feel that it would be too fast if I just dumped all of them at once.

Some world building, explanation on one of the weaknesses to Toyaru's ability, as well as background to Princess Aire and Aniel. Overall just a calm chapter for passing on information.

As always, Feedback and Suggestions are appreciated and encouraged.