They were going on a hunt.

In simpler times, in a simpler family, that’d mean going out to hunt a rabbit or a wolf. But in Sean’s case, his family wasn’t simple and the times were far from it. It was the opposite, in fact. He could barely wrap his mind around everything that was happening now. Fairy Blood was the smallest of the many surprises he’d seen in the last day.

He’d seen his mother talk about murder as if it was normal. He’d seen a nearly dead girl’s body fix itself. He’d seen a monster inside the home of the girl he loved. He’d seen the inside of a giant’s mouth. He’d seen giant insects that’d make most grown men wet their pants.

But there was one thing he hadn’t seen.

It was a hunt.

Hunting monsters… That was something inconceivable to the old Sean. He could be taking revenge. He could be slinging Mana Balls at monsters. He could be killing and hunting them with his family, yet… he’d been assigned the duty of babysitting.

Well, not a baby.

It was an angry girl that he was supposed to look after.

“Let me go,” said Liz, tied up to what looked like a surgery table. The straps were made of leather and were thick. He couldn’t imagine even her getting out of that. She growled and shouted, to no avail, “Fucking let me go!”

“I can’t,” said Sean, and his eyes wandered to Chris, tied to a chair. There was a thick rope almost as thick as his forearm covering his entire torso, connecting him to the chair. He’d long since fallen to the ground, struggling to get free. But he couldn’t get free. Even if he did, he’d end up having to move like a worm.

Chris’s mouth was covered with duct tape but he didn’t struggle anymore. Liz had the same thing covering her mouth but she’d somehow managed to push it off her mouth.

How did he end up having to do this?

It all started with his mom, coming up to him with a smile…

“We could be killing them! I saved your life, Sean. I can do it!” shouted Liz and Sean rubbed his temples. He was bad at stuff like these. He was technically supposed to knock them out via some means if they tried to do something.

But he understood Liz.

He understood her far too much.

When he realized Clara was dead, he couldn’t think straight. His mind was filled with nothing but murder. If he was told that his family was murdered by monsters, he, too, would be struggling against whatever bound him with all his might.

She hadn’t received the truth well.

Chris was supposed to look after her, but the adults soon realized that he wouldn’t be the best person to look after her when she was spouting all sorts of nonsense.

So who did they turn to?

Him and the other kids.

Rex and Max were with him. And there was a girl, a friend of theirs, wearing what looked like a uniform that consisted of a white blouse and a skirt with nylon stockings. There were others at the mansion but they didn’t have any real duties other than staying put. The other aunt —the one that was standing upstairs earlier today— was apparently not a hunter. But she knew about the tradition.

They were in the basement. It was more spacious than Sean expected, almost larger than their apartment. And their apartment was large, around a hundred square meters. Various tools of torture hung from the walls but Sean tried to keep his mind off them. Rex and the girl were the same as him. Max, though, stared at them, as if mesmerized.

It was lit by candles, making it look all the more threatening as if they were summoning a demon in one of their friend’s basements.

Jason had gone with the adults to hunt.

“I’d have let you go if I could!” shouted out Sean, unable to bear it anymore. He could be sitting calmly in his Mindspace if he wanted to, reading his Spellbook in solitude, but he felt responsible. He couldn’t just let them do everything. It was his job, “Just wait. They’ll kill them all. And when we’re ready, we’ll also hunt those monsters.”

“I want to kill them now,” hissed Liz. To make the situation worse, the bed was slightly tilted up, letting her see him. And inversely, Sean could see Liz glaring at him.

He wanted to leave the room.

“I want to kill them too,” said Sean slowly as he walked up to her. He managed to tilt the bed until it was now parallel to the ground, “I want to hunt as well. But it’s too dangerous. You almost died once. If anything, you’re staying.”

“Back then I was alone,” said Liz and gestured at Chris with her head, the only part of her body she could really move, “We’re the damn dynamic duo. Think about what we can do there, you, Chris and me. Everyone else here.”

Sean turned away, looking at Rex and the girl instead.

The other girl was a mage… no, an Elementalist. Her level was higher than his. It made sense. She’d been here longer. He’d used his Appraisal on her so he knew the basics. Her name was Marie and her last name didn’t ring a bell, so he didn’t remember it well.

“Maybe we can go and help,” she said with a shrug, sitting on the only table in the room, swinging her legs in the air. They didn’t quite reach the ground, hovering an inch over the ground. Upon it were placed tools that Sean didn’t even want to think about. The purpose of the basement was obvious.

“Don’t even think about it. It’s too dangerous,” said Sean.

He wasn’t scared.

That’s what he wanted to tell himself.

“It’s not!” shouted out Liz, “If it was, we couldn’t have killed that one even with the two of us.”

“There are worse monsters out there,” said Sean quietly. He knew that there were. Otherwise, his father wouldn’t have been that overprotective. He’d most certainly have told them that he’d killed one of the Vampires when drunk. He couldn’t remember it well, but he did.

“Well… I can shoot spikes of ice,” said the girl and raised a finger. Atop her finger hovered a fractal of ice, “We can probably take whatever monster’s out there now. It’s not like there are that few of us.”

Sean turned to Max and Rex for help.

He could feel himself being persuaded.

“It’s probably not worse than a tree-sized snake,” said Max and turned to Rex. He rubbed his forehead and stood there for a second, quietly.

Just when Sean had started to hope that he was the only other person with a bit of common sense, he spoke out, “I’m quite sure none of us are strangers to monsters.”

Sean frowned.

It was only a matter of time until he gave in. That, and Sean was worried. For his family’s safety far more than his own, and in extension, Liz and Chris’s. If they were alive, then they’d come back in one piece. If they were dying, then… they’d risk their life, but they’d have a better chance at returning.

His own psyche was his worst enemy.

Through his mind ran a dozen worst-case scenarios where his parents were being murdered by monsters. For every ten of them, there was one scenario where they won and he used that to force himself to stay calm.

Sean finally turned to Chris, who’d stopped struggling a long time ago after he fell. It wasn’t even that long. Around ten minutes had passed after they were left alone.

Chris simply stared at him with serious eyes.

They still hadn’t managed to talk, for god’s sake.

“Fine,” he said, finally giving in.

He’d get yelled at, but why did he care?

He hated the monsters more than he was scared of the yelling.

It wasn’t like he couldn’t carry his own weight. Well… he couldn’t do it alone, but he wasn’t alone.

That, and Sean always wanted to do dumb things with friends. This was as close to that as it got in this new world, he supposed.

***

Chris was an expert, Sean soon realized. He could probably use his Research and learn what he had from the book within an hour, most likely, but he didn’t feel like doing that. He was close to learning a new spell that could be useful. Rather, he was almost at the part where he’d learn spell shaping and could finally unleash the nerd within him to start using spells other than Mana Ball.

He held a crossbow in one hand and a holster was tied to his thighs. The Cruciform Dagger hung from his sides at his hips. There weren’t many of them around, apparently. There were only three of them left at the house. Chris, Liz, and Max took them.

That left Rex, Sean, and Marie without a dagger. The two of them didn’t need them but Rex technically needed it more than Chris —the only one without a cool weapon. But he said he preferred his sword more and Sean couldn’t argue with that.

Sean didn’t have a backpack for the first time in ages. He felt too free. He didn’t have anything on his person other than his clothes, which he hadn’t changed out of. That meant he still had Uncle Jeremy’s jacket, worn over his bare skin and jeans.

“They took the boat,” said Chris, squatting near the dock, or at least where the boats were tied to. Using the boat was the easiest way to get to the other side. Sean didn’t even think of it on his way there, deigning to use Chris’s bike instead.

But that was the easiest way to get there.

They didn’t have a light as flashlights didn’t work anymore. They could carry a lantern with them but that’d attract the mosquitos —attracting overgrown bugs was the last thing they wanted, especially with their hurried pace.

There were two more. One of them was a motorboat with a cabin and the other one was an old wooden one that had to be paddled. They’d have taken the one with a motor anytime before, but now, it was different.

For all Sean knew, the cars had stopped working and the same applied to a motorboat.

The problem was… they wouldn’t fit on it so they’d have to make three trips. Rather, they’d have to make several trips because one would have to return. The motorboat was larger and could fit them all.

“Who goes first?” asked Rex, “It’s not like it makes any difference. Some of us will have to make several rounds.”

“I will,” said Liz and Chris almost at once. They stared at each other for a while and Chris took a step back. It seemed that both of them were reluctant to make a return trip.

“Well, I can row boats so I can make the return trips. Just come onto the boat one by one and I’ll get you to the other side. Sounds fair?” asked Rex as he walked onto the beat. It’d take a while for them to get on so Sean could technically… get to the other side by taking the bridge.

Right?

The very idea of sitting on the boat, wobbling side-to-side, seemed like the worst idea in his mind.

“I found nothing wrong with the engine,” said Chris after they started to sail away, “It just doesn’t work. The circuits and everything seem alright. Heck, nothing is clogged. It’s like it just doesn’t work because it’s not supposed to. I could’ve made it work if it made any fucking sense.”

Right, he was trying to be an engineer before the System.

“It’s like the fuel doesn’t work,” he then added, “I checked, though. It burns and all.”

That was when Sean had an idea.

It was an idea so dumb that not many would even bother to try it.

While they simply stood there, staring at Liz and Rex make the round to the other side, Sean’s attention was turned inward. He wasn’t in his Mindscape and Sean realized that he couldn’t activate Research anymore. He was stuck with fully losing his connection to reality or not having the time dilation effects at all.

He squatted onto the ground and toward the white motorboat. The other one was brown and old, but it still worked. The motorboat looked to be in tip-top shape.

Sean then did something he automatically didn’t. It said that to do so was a failure when he cast his first Mana Ball so he didn’t even think about it. Sean imagined a Mana Release Circle —the simplest one and also the one he always used when casting Magic.

He had to fail when he cast a Mana Ball.

It was like trying to pee his pants intentionally, very unwelcome, but he managed to do it.

Blue, almost invisible smoke appeared from Sean’s fingertips and onto the air. It smelled like Mana, like the smoke created by his Explosive Mana Ball, but less condensed.

Marie perked up when she smelled it and instantly turned around. It seemed like it was a trait shared by all mages —liking the smell of Mana.

“What’s that smell?” she asked, staring at Sean and the smoke that left his fingertips.

“Magic,” said Sean, and a small grin popped onto his face. It felt dumb, like pouring alcohol into the gas tank of your car and trying to drive it. But maybe, just maybe, it could work.

“You’re thinking about something dumb,” said Chris. It wasn’t a question nor was it a confirmation. He knew what Sean was trying to do. It was something stupid, that much was for sure.

“It might work,” said Sean, “You said that it was like the fuel didn’t work.”

“So you want to put magic in there?” Chris asked, “That’s a bad idea, no matter how you look at it. What if it combusts?”

“I need to learn that,” said Marie, out of nowhere, “We need to study together sometime.”

Max simply stood there, an eyebrow raised, confused about the situation.

“Wait… you’re telling me… no way,” he said slowly with long pauses, “You’re gonna try using magic to fuel something that uses petrol?”

Sean only nodded.

It wouldn’t hurt to try.

But the fuel tank was on the boat so Sean had to get on top of it. Chris simply hopped onto it, not caring about the wobbling one little bit, and held it open for him. It was toward the front, into the cabin and Sean had to get on top of it to try his theory. He put one leg on it and then pulled the other one onto it. It wobbled uncomfortably when he did, but when he was finally on it, it didn’t move.

The fact that he was on the back of the boat didn’t help. The short rail that separated the water and those on the boat didn’t feel like it offered him any measure of safety, but he had to.

Sean stuck his finger into it and poured pure gaseous Mana into it, then he braced for impact, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble. A broken finger seemed like the least of his worries now.

He poured enough for 2 Mana Balls and pulled it out, hesitant and giddy with excitement.

“Ready?” asked Chris and put his hand on the key, already there in the keyhole. It felt like they were in a car now that he thought of it, except it was a car that went on water instead of a road. Then he started to count down, “Three, two, one-”

And with that, he spun the key and the engine whirred to life.

Sean let out a gasp and a grin appeared on his face.

“You have to be kidding me,” said Max as he jumped on board as well and Sean tumbled to the side. He held himself up with one hand, holding the wall, and felt the boat flail from side to side.

Thankfully, Marie came more discreetly and carefully.

“It worked,” said Sean, the left side of his lips twitching slightly as he smiled.

“Great job,” said Chris and took a seat behind the wheel. It was exactly like a car except it had different things at the front, “Whatever this System did, I don’t appreciate it. It’s like everyone who drives has to be a wizard.”

“Mage,” Sean corrected. He was being used to being called that, not wizard. That sounded straight out of a fairy tale, “It’s better to say Mage.”

“Alright, Mage,” said Chris.

“Yep, we’re definitely studying together,” said Marie as she hugged him from the side.

Sean wasn’t used to physical contact. Rather, he was used to it, but only when it was his mother or Aunt Charlie. When it was anyone else, it felt alien.

So he almost jumped when Marie touched him. That forced him to fall down and onto the chair that lined the sides of the cabinet in the boat. There were chairs on both sides.

“Sorry about that,” said Marie, her eyes looking sideways. She was still standing but when the boat started to move, she tumbled back and took a seat in the process. Sean felt his head hit the walls of the cabinet as it did and lazily pulled himself up.

It was almost like he was on a vacation with his classmates.

“Maybe we can use the back entrance now,” said Chris. He didn’t study in St. Lucas’, but he’d probably visited Madison more times than Sean, being family and all, “The pond, I mean. I remember there being an entrance.”

But first, they had to pick up Rex and Liz.